ISIS Children Lead 8 Syrian Captives to Their Deaths in Terror Group's Latest Beheading Video
A new video by terror group ISIS shows children that appear to have been trained at its jihadist camps leading out eight Syrian men to their execution and handing out the knives used by the militants to carry out the beheadings.
The video was spread through social media accounts, and according to The Daily Mail captures the beheadings of the eight Syrians in the central province of Homa, all believed to be Shiite Muslims.
The footage shows the men, wearing orange jumpsuits, being led out blindfolded and with hands bound behind their backs by teenage boys who hand the men over to the masked jihadists.
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The boys then give out the knives used by the ISIS militants to carry out the beheadings.
The terror group has captured large amounts of territory across Iraq and Syria, and has posted numerous videos of its training camps for children and teenagers, where the boys are trained to use weapons and taught ISIS' ideology.
Children as young as 5, have been seen performing drills and obeying commands in such videos. One video from February filmed at a training camp in Syria shows the young boys, all wearing camouflage uniforms, reciting Islamic prayers and performing drills shouted out by a militant teacher.
Last week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that the "Cubs of the Caliphate," as the young recruits are called, have recruited at least 400 new members since the beginning of the year.
"I think to speak of children joining ISIS is not a good way to put it," Charlie Winter, researcher at the counter-extremism think tank Quilliam, told SOHR.
"Even if they have the perception of choice, it's not choice. If you're a minor and being indoctrinated from a very young age, you don't have the power to make a serious choice. I think that it's certainly worth considering more robustly that people are being groomed."
The jihadists have also reportedly killed and mutilated a number of children, often under the Shariah law they impose on captured cities. Sources from Mosul in Iraq have shared of stories where children have had their hands cut off for actions such as stealing toys, while a preteen was shot dead execution style by ISIS militants for stealing food.
