A photo allegedly released as part of the propaganda campaign waged by the Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIS, shows an infant surrounded by guns and grenades “lying on an ISIS flag.”
According to Mail Online, the photo, posted with the hashtag #IS, is only “the latest in a series of shocking images which raise fears that a generation of children in the region are being radicalized from a very young age.”
Another photo shows a seven-year-old boy holding up a severed head. Reportedly, the boy is the son of “terrorist Khaled Sharrouf,” and the head is that of a slaughtered Syrian soldier. Sharrouf appears in another photo with all three of his sons, where two of the boys are holding machine guns, and one is holding a pistol. One of his sons appears to be much younger than seven.
Earlier in the week, a video emerged from Syria of a child around six-years-old being trained to fire a rifle, then shout “Islamic slogans.”
On August 1, Breitbart News reported that Islamic State Chechen leader Omar al-Shishani appeared in a propaganda video in which he toured a children’s terrorist camp. The children in the video, who seem to be between five and seven years old, held guns and wore camouflage vests. They chanted, sang, and got into military formations.
On August 11, Breitbart news reported on a Vice News video showing that IS captured a “teaching van” traveling through parts of Syria. Wherever the van stopped, IS agents entertained children, then taught them to pledge allegiance to the Caliphate.
This is all part of what Mail Online describes as an apparent IS “policy to groom children to take part in jihad.”
Another Breitbart News August 1 report detailed that IS had formed a female brigade as an avenue through which women can “do their part” for jihad, as well.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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