Children and the Islamic State
Some of the saddest news of 2015 concerned the cutting-edge cruelty of jihadism in the Middle East. Case in point: Between 800 and 900 children have been abducted by the Islamic State to date, and have been enrolled in schools for religious education and military training, according to a recent report from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. On Jan. 19, the U.N. Media Centre said that the report “details numerous examples of killings by ISIL in gruesome public spectacles, including by shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning alive and throwing people off the top of buildings. There are also reports of the murder of child soldiers who fled fighting on the frontlines in Anbar. Information received and verified suggests that between 800 and 900 children in Mosul had been abducted by ISIL for religious education and military training.”
