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ISIS Numbers Are Dwindling, Now They Are Using a Disturbing Substitute for Fighters

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Thanks to the American military and a new administration that’s made stamping out the Islamic State group a top priority, the terrorist organization controls less and less of the Middle East today.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the threat’s been removed, and the terrorist group is likely still trying to increase its ranks with some of the most vulnerable individuals there are.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, a United Nations report reveals the group has been using a significant number of child soldiers in its murderous missions.

“In 2015 alone, the United Nations verified 274 cases of children having been recruited by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Syrian Arab Republic. The United Nations verified the existence of centres in rural Aleppo, Dayr al-Zawr and rural Raqqah that provided military training to at least 124 boys between 10 and 15 years of age,” the report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reads.

“Verification of the use of children as foreign fighters has increased significantly, with 18 cases involving children as young as 7 years of age.

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“The use of children as child executioners was reported and appeared in video footage. In Iraq, in two incidents in June and September 2015, more than 1,000 children were reportedly abducted by ISIL from Mosul district.”

While the report said that it couldn’t get exact figures thanks to the chaos in the region, “it is known that recruited children were used to act as spies and scouts, to transport military supplies and equipment, to conduct patrols, to man checkpoints, to videotape attacks for propaganda purposes and to plant explosive devices, as well as to actively engage in attacks or combat situations.”

Or, as the Obama administration might have called them, the “JV team.”

As the Washington Free Beacon noted, most of the United Nations’ data is conservative — as it is for other major terrorist groups that grew under the Obama administration.

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“These figures are likely to be significant underestimates because of the limited opportunities to gain access and monitor violations against children. Child recruitment is also perpetrated by Al-Shabaab in Kenya and Somalia, by the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, Ansar Eddine and Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in Mali and neighboring countries and by the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines, to name a few.”

It’s worth noting that not all of the children mentioned in the report were kidnapped; some left to join the terrorist organizations of their own volition.

“More and more children are traveling from their State of residence to areas controlled by terrorist and violent extremist groups, in order to join them,” the report stated, with 89 confirmed deaths where the child in question came from a different country.

For liberals who claim that Islamist jihadi organizations aren’t that much of a threat — well, here’s the proof that they are.

Yes, terrorist groups may be on the run now. However, they’re still able to commit atrocities like this.

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That’s why stamping the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations has to be such a massive priority, no matter how much progress has already been made.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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