During the 2014 Yazidi genocide, Yazidi boys and teenagers suffered a different fate than their fathers, mothers, or sisters. Rather than being executed in mass graves or sold into sexual slavery, male Yazidi children were sent to ISIS training camps and transformed into the terror group’s next generation of jihadists.
When ISIS invaded the Sinjar region of northern Iraq in August 2014, its fighters surrounded Yazidi villages and rounded up the local population. Boys from the ages of 7 to 18 were separated from their families after militants inspected their bodies for signs of puberty. These young Yazidis were then sent to a vast network of training camps located throughout Iraq and Syria. Many of these camps were established in former schools. Once they arrived, Yazidi boys and teenagers were registered, forcibly converted to Islam, and given Islamic names. For the remainder of their training and life with ISIS, these children would only be referred to by their new names. Maintaining any connection to their Yazidi identity was forbidden.
ISIS subjected Yazidi boys to an unforgiving religious and military training regimen. Yazidis were forced to learn Arabic, recite the Qur’an, and adhere to ISIS’ interpretation of Islam. These children were also trained to use a wide variety of weapons and munitions, such as pistols, AK-47s, grenades, rocket launchers, and suicide vests. ISIS fighters also forced Yazidi boys and teenagers to watch propaganda videos of battles, suicide bombings, and beheadings to desensitize them to extreme violence. If new recruits performed poorly during their religious or military training, as well as if they cried when they watched footage of graphic violence, they were severely beaten. In total, this training lasted between 13 days to 2 months.
After their training was complete, Yazidi boys and teens were treated as ISIS fighters. Depending on the terror group’s needs, they were assigned a variety of tasks. Some became frontline soldiers, fighting against Kurdish troops and US-led Coalition forces. Others guarded ISIS bases and equipment, while some boys were forced to go on suicide missions. In 2019, it was estimated that the terror group trained approximately 700 Yazidi children and teenagers to become jihadists.
ISIS’ indoctrination of young Yazidi boys and teenagers is a clear instance of cultural genocide. The group wanted to erase the Yazidi identity of its new recruits, replacing their connections to the Yazidi language, religion, and customs with Arabic and an intolerant interpretation of Islam. However, ISIS didn’t simply want Yazidi children to abandon their past and become jihadists. It wanted its recruits to participate in the extermination of the Yazidi people. After abducting Yazidi boys from their families, ISIS fighters bragged to distraught parents that their sons were “training... to kill kuffar [infidels] like you.” Instructors imparted a similar message to Yazidi children during training. One ISIS fighter exclaimed, “You have to kill kuffar [infidels] even if they are your fathers and brothers, because they belong to the wrong religion and they don’t worship God.” Some Yazidi boys and teenagers have managed to escape ISIS and rejoin Yazidi communities in displaced person camps. Yet, their freedom is often only physical. They experienced unimaginable trauma and brainwashing at the hands of ISIS, and it will take years, if not lifetimes, to recover from such pain.
Text & Video by Seth Eislund
