UN Report: Islamic State Recruiting Children as Fighters in Syria

While much attention has been focused on Islamic State (IS) incursions, abductions, and killings in Iraq, a UN report shows IS has committed “mass atrocities” in Syria and is recruiting children as fighters there as well.

The report indicates “public executions” are “a common spectacle” in the portions of Syria controlled by IS, as are “amputations” and “whippings.”

According to BBC News, the report shows that IS is using terror to control people in the areas it conquers. To that end, the bodies of those executed are often “placed on display for several days,” frightening the population into conformity. 

As in Iraq, these executions allegedly include the executions of government soldiers. 

Additionally, “children as young as 10 are being recruited and trained at IS camps,” and women are being whipped for not abiding by the IS dress code.

On August 1, Breitbart News reported that IS had formed an all female brigade to enforce Sharia law in Syria, which includes regulations on dress. The Atlantic reported that women in Raqqa “who go out without a male chaperone or aren’t fully covered in public are subject to arrests and beatings.”

The Associated Press reports that Obama is weighing the possibility of airstrikes against IS in Syria, but there are questions as to whether air power alone would be enough to “degrade” the “terrorist army.” 

Some officials are concerned that striking IS in Syria would put “the U.S. on the same side as Syrian President Bashar Assad,” a man whose abdication has been sought by the Obama administration “for years.” 

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.