Syrian children tortured by Islamic State

PARADISE LOST: The Islamic State tortured a group of Syrian students of Kurdish origin captured in late May near Manbij in Aleppo province, said the New York-based Human Rights Watch in a report released Tuesday, raising bleak questions about the psychological challenges that future Syrian generations will face.

IS captured the 153 children on their way home to the now-embattled Kurdish city of Kobani, also in Aleppo province. The Islamic State released the children in bunches, including the last 25 last week, but it was not immediately clear why.

The children were beaten with hoses and electric cables during their detention, the HRW report says, and forced to watch videos of IS fighters beheading others.

Children across Syria have dealt with extreme circumstances during the course of the three-year war. From torture to rampant exposure to violence, sights such as the one above, of an unnamed girl playing on a seesaw in the park without legs in Aleppo city have become increasingly common.

The plight of Syrian children has not escaped the international community.

UNICEF ambassador Jemima Khan launched a campaign last month called #WakeUpCall to raise money for the 6.5 million children UNICIEF says are affected by the conflict and need urgent humanitarian aid.

The campaign, which encourages participants to take “selfies” as the first thing they do in the morning, has caught the attention of a number of celebrities. Another campaign ran by Khan last October raised $1.6 million for Syrian children.

-November 4, 2014

-Photo courtesy of @EmanAlhariri1.

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