ISIS have ‘studied Nazi methods’ to train children to be killers from birth

ISLAMIC State is creating its version of Nazi Germany’s Hitler Youth to train the next generation of terrorists.

Children of Australian terrorist Khaled Sharrouf in Syria. Picture from the ABC 7:30 Report

A STUDY has claimed Islamic State is indoctrinating children from birth using an extremism-based education system similar to that taught by the Nazis, to create a generation “more lethal than themselves”.

The report, titled Children of Islamic State, has outlined how indoctrination by IS through the school system and various training camps encourages children to witness killings, brandish decapitated heads and carry out executions themselves.

Reports have suggested IS has even gone so far as to create a similar youth wing to Nazi Germany’s Hitler Youth, called Fityan al-Islam, meaning ‘Boys of Islam’, The Sun reports.

According to the report’s authors, the “Islamic State’s approach to education reflects elements of Nazi Germany in the way that children and pedagogy are perceived.

“Elements from Nazi Germany can be glimpsed in the systematic indoctrination of children through schools and training camps in IS. The concepts used by the Nazis are perfectly applicable to the Islamic State.”

Islamic State has launched a new training camp for children soldiers and have opened a special school for English-speaking children of jihadists. Picture: Twitter

Quilliam, the London counter-terrorism think tank responsible for the report, say the terror organisation has been quick to gain control of education systems in Syria and Iraq in order to cultivate a stronger second-generation ‘mujahideen’ who have been conditioned to follow extreme values from an early age.

The report’s authors claim IS “focuses a large number of its efforts on indoctrinating children through an extremism-based education curriculum, and fostering them to become future terrorists.

“The current generation of fighters sees these children as better and more lethal fighters than themselves, because rather than being converted into radical ideologies they have been indoctrinated into these extreme values from birth, or a very young age,” the report states.

“The area of most concern is that Islamic State is preparing its army by indoctrinating young children in its schools and normalising them to violence through witnessing public executions, watching Islamic State videos in media centres and giving children toy weapons to play with.”

Australian Khaled Sharrouf and boys believed to be his three sons (one not visible) stand in front of the Islamic State flag in an image posted on Twitter. Source: Supplied

According to the study, children were used in IS propaganda 254 times from August 1, 2015 until February 9 this year, with 12 child killers featuring in videos in the past six months alone.

An estimated six million men, women and children are believed to be living under IS’ self-styled caliphate, which also includes 30,000 foreign recruits, and as many as 50 children from the UK.

To combat such shocking figures, the report’s authors have recommended the creation of a commission to protect future generations from radicalisation and violence.

The research, which was compiled using a study of propaganda that featured children and information from “trusted sources” within IS, has been endorsed by the United Nations and is set to be published in British Parliament on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Romeo Dallaire Solders Initiative, co-writers in the report, has said: “Life under ISIS is one of the gravest situations for children on Earth.

“It is hoped that this report will provide a critical perspective on the plight of these children.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission