ISIS forces Mosul high school students into military service

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — ISIS has started forcefully recruiting Mosul high school students for military service, residents told German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA).
 
“Daesh gunmen from the Hasaba and Diwan brigades have been forcing Mosul students to join their fighters after finishing school this year,” sources inside the city told DPA for a story published Saturday.
 
Mosul residents also reported that special ISIS teams have already been visiting Mosul schools to select the students, who are given no chance to appeal the decision.
 
Mosul fell in early June after the rapid capitulation of the Iraqi military, whose members reportedly abandoned their posts as the jihadis advanced.
 
A similar recruitment drive was launched in April by ISIS to press former Iraqi army members into ISIS military service.
 
“Once ISIS issued the order, several soldiers and former Iraqi army officers joined the Islamic State because they feared punishment. Many others went to the group’s regiments to surrender,” a source told Rudaw at the time.