Children are the fuel of ISIS’s wars… and a means of terrorizing families

Stories from the “Back from Death” series collected by ASO News Network, which show the tragedy of civilians who suffered pain during the period of ISIS rule, realistic novels and stories that express the extent of terrorism and extremism in affecting the structure of society..

“Back from Death”
A series of testimonies from the heart of the tragedy… Civilians who returned from death under ISIS rule in North-East Syria. A series of special reports produced by ASO News Network, published for the first time consecutively, highlighting the terrible violations that the city of Tabqa witnessed during the period of ISIS control.

Horrific stories from eyewitnesses who lived through the terrorist organization’s nightmare, where families were subjected to the harshest types of physical and psychological torture; From humiliating punishments that waste human dignity, to dark prisons from which only a few emerge alive, and ending with the destruction of schools and turning them into death factories.

We share with you these living testimonies to highlight the extent of the suffering and pain, and to present a true picture of what happened during that dark period.

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North-East Syria 2024

From Tabqa by Hassan Al-Ahmad
After imposing its control over large areas of Syrian territory in 2014, ISIS worked to recruit children to use them as informants and spies to convey news of those opposed to the organization, in addition to engaging them in military operations.

The people were greatly afraid of children, whether they were being recruited in exchange for sums of money, or the children of ISIS members, whether Syrians or foreigners, to report news of people who smoke or sell tobacco, or women without the veil, or any act committed that the organization deems contrary to its doctrine.

One person, called (A.A), a tobacco seller, narrates what happened to him in 2015, when he once sold a ten-year-old child a pack of cigarettes, thinking that he had bought them for his father, without knowing that he was a spy affiliated with the organization’s “Hisbah” apparatus.

(A.A) said to ASO News Network: “After about half an hour, Al-Hisbah car arrived with the child accompanying them. Their prince was of Saudi nationality and he said to me, ‘Man, look at the evil that you are selling to the Muslims.’”

He added, “At first I denied it.” He replied to me, saying, “The child who was with us bought a pack of smoke from you, and we were the ones who sent him to make sure you had smoke, and it was in a room and in a tank.” Thus, they discovered the cache of smoke packs, and burned all of the packs that were there. In his possession, he said.

He mentions that he was taken to the “Hisbah” center located in Al-Orouba School, and describes those moments filled with horror and mixed with fear, where he was placed in a room on the upper floors for several days, during which he was beaten.

But the psychological torture was more severe on (A.A.) than the beatings. According to him, they told him that they would evacuate the place and leave him in prison, because the plane would bomb the building, until he finally came out after paying a sum of money and being forced to follow a “Sharia course.”

At the beginning of 2014, ISIS opened what are called “affiliation offices” whose mission is to attract members, both adults and children. After a group of children under the age of 15 joined, it began sending them to special camps called “Cubs of the Caliphate,” where they received training under the supervision of members of the organization. To cut off heads or train them on how to carry out suicide operations using cars and explosive belts.

After they matured intellectually in the camps that were called “legitimate camps,” they were transferred to other camps that were equipped militarily to train these young people and use the various weapons and various military tactics that the organization uses in its military operations without taking into account their abilities and ages, in order to throw them into battles. .