Child recruitment leaves parents heartbroken in northeast Syria
The PKK-linked Revolutionary Youth movement has continued its campaign of child recruitment in northeast Syria despite efforts from local authorities, and SDF chief Mazloum Kobane to stop the practice, leaving a trail of anguished parents in its wake.
Late last year, members of a youth group held a computer literacy class in the Syrian town of Amuda. This was no ordinary extracurricular activity: its purpose was to recruit children for military service, and over the course of the lessons, organizers convinced two local girls to leave home and pick up arms.
“It was a kidnapping through indirect means, not at the barrel of a gun,” said Shams Antar, the aunt of one of the girls, sixteen-year-old Hadiya Abdul Raheem Antar. Hadiya and her friend Ayana persuaded a third classmate who had not attended the computer course, 15-year-old Afeen Jalal Khalil, to tag along on their military adventure, added Shams Antar.
On Nov. 21, 2021, the three girls disappeared. Hadiya and Ayana were picked up by a car after school, while Afeen was spirited away from in front of her home that evening. Hadiya and Afeen are still missing today; Ayana’s parents have managed to bring her home through a dogged pressure campaign.
An undated image of Afeen Khalil (courtesy of the Khalil family)
