ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- The United States said Tuesday that the Islamic State (ISIS) has started recruiting child soldiers, apparently because of a rapid increase in desertions by its fighters. “Daesh is relying on child soldiers” US State Department Spokesman John Kirby told reporters, referring to ISIS by its derogatory Arabic name. “Originally they would rely on children for intelligence streams,” he added, saying the extremists were now using the children “to conduct suicide attacks.” Kirby said there were reports indicating the number of prominent ISIS militants deserting ISIS ranks is increasing, encouraging the group to depend enormously on using child soldiers. “Reports that we’re getting from the ground that there are more and more defectors, but also that increasingly Daesh is relying on child soldiers,” Kirby said. “Those are good indications that they are struggling with their ability to recruit and to retain manpower,” he added. However, he did not confirm recent news indicating the Kurdish Peshmerga had captured an American member of ISIS on the Shingal front who had mistaken Peshmerga territory for the Turkish border. The United States has been playing a leading role in the battle against ISIS since 2014, when it began providing advisors and trainers to Iraqi forces as well as direct air support to Kurdish and Iraqi forces fighting the extremists on the ground.
