US admits ally SDF 'forcibly' recruiting child soldiers in Syria

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
28 Jun 2024 15:38
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At a time when the number of forcibly recruited children is increasing in areas controlled by the US-backed SDF militias, Washington admits to the crisis.

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Members of the Kurdish police known as the Asayesh, northern Syrian city of al-Hasakah (AFP)

The administration of US President Joe Biden has acknowledged that its ally, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is forcibly recruiting child soldiers to fight against the democratically-elected government in Damascus.

According to a new report titled "2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Syria" from the US State Department, the SDF is listed among terrorist groups involved in the crime of using child soldiers, alongside ISIS and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), previously known as al-Nusra Front.

"The recruitment or use of children in combat and support roles in Syria remains common, and since the beginning of 2018 international observers reported continued incidents of recruitment and use by armed groups, though the prevalence of the practice differs by group," the report said.

The state department emphasized that the armed outfits "recruit and/or use boys and girls as child soldiers."

The report stated that the SDF was carrying out a UN Security Council-mandated action plan to stop the recruitment and use of child soldiers and to demobilize those already in its ranks. However, an international organization reported that SDF-affiliated armed groups continued to recruit and use children in 2022 and 2023.

The US State Department said that the HTS and ISIS "used children as human shields, suicide bombers, snipers, and executioners," while some armed groups "use children for forced labor and as informants, exposing them to retaliation and extreme punishment."

The report also identified the so-called "Revolutionary Youth Movement" as a "militant Kurdish group that continues to recruit children in northeast Syria through deceptive offers of educational courses."

It is worth noting that Antonio Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, reported to the UN Security Council at the end of last year that 2990 children aged nine to 17 had been recruited in Syria. Among them, 829 were recruited by SDF militias.

Guterres highlighted in his report that despite the SDF militias signing an agreement with the United Nations in 2019 to cease recruiting individuals under 18 years old and establishing offices in their controlled areas for this purpose, the recruitment of children by SDF and PYD militants surged by 80% in the last two years.

The big picture

The US support for the SDF has been a source of tension with Turkey, a NATO ally, which has stationed its forces in northeast Syria under the justification of combating militant groups hostile to Ankara.

Turkey perceives the SDF as linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a banned organization in Turkey that has fought for independence for decades and is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US, and the European Union.

Since March 2011, Syria has experienced ongoing war and devastation supported by the US and its allies.

In recent years, Syrian government forces have successfully regained control of nearly all territories previously held by terrorist groups.

Meanwhile, the US military has positioned troops and equipment in northeastern Syria, citing aims to prevent ISIS from seizing oil fields in the region, as per the Pentagon.

However, Damascus argues that this deployment is intended to exploit Syria's natural resources. Former US President Donald Trump openly acknowledged multiple times that US forces were present in Syria to "secure its oil wealth."

Not an isolated incident

Earlier this month, Syrian news agency SANA reported that the US occupation forces looted a new batch of Syrian oil and smuggled them to their bases in Iraq.

Local sources from the al-Yarubiyah countryside told the news agency that a convoy of the US occupation forces, consisting of 45 tankers loaded with stolen Syrian oil, left from the illegitimate al-Mahmoudiyah crossing and entered Iraqi territory.

This is not the first time that the US occupation has looted Syrian oil and deprived Syrians of their country's wealth. In April, Syrian media cited sources as saying that the US occupation forces illegally transported 98 tanker trucks filled with oil from Syria to Iraq.

It is noteworthy that in August 2022, the Syrian Oil Ministry revealed that the US occupation forces loot the majority of Syria's oil, knowing that the daily production of the eastern oil fields is 80.3 thousand barrels.

The United States has been for years supporting the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militias, and the US-backed forces are currently occupying parts of the provinces of al-Hasakah, Deir Ezzor, and Raqqa, where the largest Syrian oil and gas fields are located.

The actions carried out by the United States constitute state piracy with the aim of plundering Syria's oil resources and depriving the Syrians of their own resources amid a harsh economic situation caused largely by the US occupiers.