AFRIN — To feed his family, Marwan Qaiquni had no other option but to have his two children, Rabah and Shehadeh, to work as day soldiers with the armed opposition groups in northwestern Syria.
Rabah and Shehadeh, who earn up to $4 a day, guard Turkish military points or are stationed on the first and second front lines. With no guarantees or compensation in the event of death or injury, the brothers are among hundreds of children and adults who have resorted to such work in the war-torn country in recent years.
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As the conflict enters its 14th year, “More than 90% [of Syrians] now live in poverty, the economy is in free fall amid tightening sanctions, and increased lawlessness is fueling predatory practices and extortion by armed forces and militia,” said Paulo Pinheiro, chairperson of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry for Syria.
A UN report last June said that armed groups have recruited children throughout the conflict and civil war in Syria. And that the number of children recruited has risen steadily over the past three years — from 813 in 2020 to 1,296 in 2021 and 1,696 in 2022. Many of these children have died on the front lines. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported in November that at least 12 children were killed while fighting alongside the factions allied with the opposition forces in 2023.
An extra dollar
Abdulaziz al-Turki, a 17-year-old Syrian, spends 15 days a month on the front line with the Sham Legion, which is fighting the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Al-Turki, who lives with his family in a camp in the northern city of Afrin, worked for and one meal a day for five months, before moving to the front line for a day.
“My family really needs the extra dollar.”
“My family really needs the extra dollar,” he said, adding that they no longer receive aid from the UN food agency. Because his parents are old and need medication, “there is no breadwinner for the family.” He said his three sisters have daily work in agriculture.
Faisal al-Kuwaini, who was displaced from Homs province, left school when he was 13. He worked at a motorcycle maintenance workshop in the city of al-Dana, north of Idlib for a day. Then, when he was 16, he went to work with armed groups to get more money. He received a day as a guard at one of Turkey’s monitoring points south of Idlib. Al-Kuwaini said that there was no difference between the two jobs.
Recruiters take their share
Opposition armed agents, who call themselves battalion leaders, are appointed to villages, towns and camps, and paid to recruit children and adults to the front lines, known locally as “Rabat.”
Every 15 days, the agents take their recruits to military points, where they are given weapons — but no combat training — before being deployed to the front lines to protect Turkish military points, Samer al-Idlibi, an activist, explained. The agents receive the children’s wages, which they pass on to the families after taking their share, the activist said.
Farouk al-Jamil died from wounds he suffered on the front line in northern Aleppo, leaving his young wife and 1-year-old child. His widow, Dalal al-Jamil, said he went to work for the armed groups, earning for each 15-day stint, to be able to buy supplies for his baby, including milk and diapers.
After four months, Farouk returned, in April 2023 “without being able to kiss his child, hold him, or play with him. He returned a dead body. He had been hit with 7 bullets in his chest and stomach,” his widow said, adding that the armed group sent only 0 in compensation, “for my husband’s blood.”
A frightening future
In addition to armed opposition groups, radical groups including Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Turkestan Party and Ansar al-Islam have also recruited children to their ranks. An HTS member said these factions have given children weapons and military training and pay them a fixed monthly salary of about 0. The Turkestan Party group pays recruits from East Turkestan (in northwestern China) 0 each month and half that amount to Syrians.
The SNHR said HTS has established dozens of training centers for children, where they receive military and Sharia courses, before they are encouraged to take up arms. The SNHR notes that HTS’s methods often follow those employed by the Islamic State group to recruit children at an early stage of their lives to ensure long-term loyalty.
These children are exposed to harsh and traumatic experiences that affect their psychological and social development, said psychological researcher Ahmed Jumaa. Child soldiers suffer from serious psychological disorders, including psychological trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, psychological tension, sleep problems and hostile behavior, he added.
