The Islamic State is lowering its conscription age to recruit boys as young as 10 years old in an effort to replace fighters who have been killed, according to Col. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.
“We’ve seen this trend continuing to increase for a while now where they’re having to, through forced conscription, recruit children as young as 10 to go fight, which is obviously disgusting and illegal across the board. So this again is an indication that they are scraping to replace the losses that they’ve experienced on the battlefield,” Ryder told reporters on Friday.
Ryder said the “overwhelming majority” of Islamic State fighters are military-aged males, but said that even one child forced into military service is too many.
Asked if the presence of children on the battlefield against their will changes the rules of engagement for U.S. airstrikes, Ryder said that any Islamic State fighter is a legitimate target, regardless of age.
“Obviously it definitely is not the coalition’s intent to kill innocent women and children,” Ryder said. “The reality is, if an ISIL fighter is armed and attacking, then that ISIL fighter is a target, a legitimate military target. So I think the condemnation again against ISIL is justified for putting innocent people in this situation.”
