According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, around 300 Syrian children, recruited as child soldiers by ISIS, have been killed over the past two weeks in fighting in and around the Iraqi city of Mosul. The brigade is called the “cubs of the caliphate.”
Locals reported that the loss of children in fighting around the Syrian town of Daquq was spun by ISIS religious leaders as minor compared to the gains they would secure in Mosul. The fighting is fierce around Mosul, and the casualties are high.
The Observatory said that at least 480 Syrian fighters had been killed in fighting around the Mosul area since the fighting began two weeks ago. This means that a strong majority of those casualties were actually children.
The US has claimed they believe between 800 and 900 fighters have been killed overall around Mosul. This indicates that the fighting outside of Mosul is heavily between invading Iraqi forces and ISIS’ Syrian auxiliaries. Large numbers of ISIS fighters are believed to have remained within Mosul, preparing to defend the city itself.
I am confused on the relationship between Syria and child soldiers. There are several kinds of vhild soldiers in Syria. There are children of ISIS, Al-Nusra and other closely related groups families. They are raised with cruelty around them, and are allowed to handle heavy weapons that they still cannot carry. They are thought to cut heads. I saw several documentaries on lives of such families. Then there are Sunni population that supports ISIS — and gives fighters to their ranks. Often very young. Sometimes for cash or other necessities. The last is the category of kidnapped children. This mostly happens in urban areas where ISIS has no support. In East Aleppo this is huge problem. They need fighters and parents hide kids. Recently one of the US supported groups in Aleppo region cut head of a boy. The story is that he did not want to fight or he was just afraid.
Clearly it had to be one of those kidnapped kids. He was supposed to have been ten and the group Al-Zika. I read that he was possibly older than ten. Until I saw the photo of the child hd before execution — and his head after. I was shocked that anyone thought that be was older. In fact he may have been no
More than 7-8. The child in shorts had the leggs of a small boy, not boy of 10 or older. I was stunned at the profound dishonesty of mainstream press that tried to minimize the effect of news — that our ally executed a child. So the child had to be described as “possibly” older then ten, and thus “almost a teenager”, to blunt the impact of the story. In fact, he was still a little boy, with his little legs dangling while held by a monster.
We do not need Halloween. Plenty of real horrors in our world.