ISIS is recruiting teens and children using cash, gifts, intimidation and brainwashing.
In this ISIS video of Farouq camp, boys in camouflage do calisthenics and shout slogans. An ISIS fighter says the boys have studied jihad so “in the coming days God Almighty can put them in the front lines to battle the infidels.”
The children had all been shown videos of beheadings and told by their ISIS trainers that they would perform one someday. First, they had to practice technique. More than 120 boys were each given a doll and a sword and told, cut off its head.
The indoctrination mainly targets Sunni Muslim children. In ISIS-held towns, militants show young people videos at street booths. They hold outdoor events for children, distributing soft drinks and candy — and propaganda.
They tell adults, “We have given up on you, we care about the new generation,” said an anti-ISIS activist who fled the Syrian city of Raqqa, the extremists’ de facto capital. He spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve the safety of relatives under ISIS rule.
(With AP inputs)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)