IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) in Idlib, northwestern Syria, invites children to join the ranks of their army under jihadist slogans.
Exploitation
Kamal al-Aswad, age 16, misses his studies after he gave up his ambition to become a doctor a few months ago to join the ranks of a faction within HTS in Idlib.
Al-Aswad, who is the eldest son of a displaced family from the city of Saraqeb, tried to search for a job opportunity after his father died from a military injury a year ago, but his search was in vain.
Al-Aswad told North Press that he works in a group of 20 people, four of whom are under the age of eighteen, and their mission is to guard the military checkpoints at night.
According to the 2002 Convention on the Rights of the Child in international law, children under the age of 18 are prohibited from being recruited into the armed forces or used in hostilities.
Invitations
The repeated invitations from HTS, along with poor living conditions, prompt a large proportion of Idlib’s schoolchildren to participate in the fighting in exchange for some money.
In previous years, the organization launched several campaigns to attract youth and recruit children, most notably the “Go light and heavy” campaign at the beginning of this year.
14-year-old Waheed al-Yassin joined the fighting after Syrian government forces took control of his village in Idlib countryside about a year ago.
Al-Yassin told North-Press that “The preachers of the organization visited a mosque in the Atma camps and called us for jihad and defending the land of Muslims, which prompted me and four of my friends to join them.”
Al-Yassin, accompanied by other children, went through a religious intellectual session that lasted for about a month, followed by a combat session that included military tactics, after which they were deployed to the Ribat points in the western countryside of Aleppo.
He added, “The first operation in which I participated was to repel the regime forces on the western front in the Aleppo countryside, at which time one of my friends was killed and another was wounded.”
A human rights activist from Idlib, who preferred to remain anonymous for security reasons, told North Press that “every so often the organization launches a call under the name of jihad and sends its advocates to mosques to incite young people to fight.”
He added, “the monthly salaries for children who are recruited into the ranks of the organization are somewhat acceptable compared to the rest of the work available to a child seeking work, which drives dozens of people to join the fighting.”
He added, “These groups direct dozens of children to fight by subjecting them to legal courses that make them love death and hate life.”
‘Large percentage’
Ibrahim al-Maarawi, a teacher and educational mentor in Idlib, said that the dropout rate for Idlib’s schools is about 40%.
He stated in an interview with North Press that many of these students entered the battlefields in Idlib “because they were influenced by the ideas spread in their surroundings, and some of them were for reasons related to taking revenge through the factions or making money.”
Al-Maarawi pointed out that many military parties have pushed children to the frontlines, exposing them to an unknown future that threatens them with ignorance and illiteracy.”
Syrians for Truth and Justice said in a report last May that the HTS managed, by offering material incentives, to recruit dozens of children into its ranks.
Human Rights Watch stated in several reports over the past years, that the Syrian government and the armed groups fighting it committed grave violations in recruiting children and forcing them into combat.
Last June, the annual report of the United Nations Secretary-General spoke of the recruitment of 820 children in Syria, including 147 children under the age of 15.
No return
Umm Yasser (a pseudonym), a displaced woman in Idlib, told North Press that her eldest son (15 years old) joined the fighting factions with the aim of obtaining money, although she is “not satisfied with his joining at this age.”
Umm Yasser lost her husband about two years ago in a Russian airstrike on the city of Maarat al-Nu’man, which caused the children to search for opportunities to earn money.
15-year-old Ahmed Khaled, displaced from the city of Maarat al-Nu’man, left school in the second semester of the last academic year to join the factions without informing his family.
Khaled was studying in the ninth grade and excelled in his studies, but a number of his associates convinced him to join jihadist camps under the name of “jihad and victory over the enemies,” according to what his mother said to North Press.
She added, “After a period of research, the family of Ahmed learned from one of his friends that he was receiving training in one of the HTS camps.”
His mother told North Press, “I have not had any peace of mind since my son left the house. I fear for him of harm that may befall him in the battles, as he is still young to fight.”
She also mentioned that “his father didn’t dare go to the camp and ask to take his son home, although he is not convinced of what his son has done, according to the family.”