Minors recruited by IS, recounted how IS attracted children to its ranks

AL-HASAKAH

The Public Relations Committee of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), by the initiative of the Democratic Autonomous Administration (DAA) of North and East Syria, released on Wednesday  102 convicts of belonging to IS, including a group of young underage boys recruited by IS mercenaries.

In this context, ANHA agency met with the boys Mohammed Najjar and Abdel Medhi Hammadi who joined IS after they were deluded.

MOHAMMED NAJJAR

The 18-year-old boy Mohammed Najjar is from Aleppo city. He joined IS mercenaries in 2016. He was 16 when he joined the extremist organization.

He said, "IS occupied our areas and reduced the job opportunities so that my brothers and me joined IS ranks to gain money to support our family."

Children of the rich in the departments and children of the poor in the trenches

He added, "I was a fighter on the front lines even though I was young, but the children of the Amirs and the rich were in the administrations and high positions while we, the poor, were in the trenches."

He was paid $ 50 a month, while the married young man got $ 100.

According to the boy, during the period of his joining IS, he was an eyewitness to a great injustice against the people acted by IS. He added, “They talked to us about religion a lot such as jihad and war against the infidels, but after we joined, we saw the opposite."

Najjar, who has displaced from Aleppo to al-Raqqa and then to Deir ez-Zor to give himself up to SDF with his brother, pledged that the latter's treatment was good with them and they saw only good treatment and the urging on building the society, not sabotaging it.

Abedl Medhi Hammadi

Al-Medhi Hammadi, 17 years old, from Deir ez-Zor, was also tricked to join IS to gain money. He joined IS about two years ago, that is, he was 15 years old.

He said, “They took me out of the market after I agreed to join them in the mosque. They used to incite us to join them under the name of jihad. I joined a group of about 20 people."

About his duties within the IS ranks, he said, “I was a fighter in the trenches. I participated in just one battle against the regime forces. I was a lot afraid, but they were forced us to stay in our positions."

During his staying, Abdel Medhi received a military training course on the use of weapons and shooting.

But in the noticeable thing in the story of Abed al-Medhi is that he has two brothers who were martyred among SDF forces, and when asked not to fear that he may kill his brother in one of the battles, he said, "I already knew this, but I was enticed and when someone tried to escape, he would be punished or killed."

Hammadi also stated that most of their commanders were non-Syrian mercenaries, where the Amir of their group was of Tunisian origins and called Abu Abdullah al-Tunisi.

Abdel al-Medhi fled with his family from Deir ez-Zor area about a year ago through a smuggler and they headed towards the areas controlled by SDF before being arrested later in al-Arisha camp for Deir ez-Zor refugees in al-Hasakah countryside in al-Jazeera region."

And about the period of his detention to SDF, he said," I joined Hori Center for Culture and Art and learned a lot of lessons during the past period without feeling to be strange, and I thank them for everything they did for me to change my personality."

A.H

ANHA