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Pro-Baghdad Militias Recruiting Children for Mosul Liberation Operation

© AFP 2023 / MARWAN IBRAHIMA general view of a district in the city of Mosul. (File)
A general view of a district in the city of Mosul. (File) - Sputnik International
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Children are being recruited for the Mosul liberation operation by the Iraqi government.

People walk on the rubble of the destroyed Mosque of The Prophet Younis, or Jonah, in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq (File) - Sputnik International
Human Rights Watch Calls on Iraqi Gov't to Keep Shiite Militias Out of Mosul
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Two Iraqi government-backed militias are recruiting children for the operation to liberate the city of Mosul from the Daesh terrorist group, a prominent watchdog said on Tuesday, calling on Baghdad to ensure all underage fighters are demobilized.

According to the Human Right Watch (HRW), the two militias in the Kurdish part of Iraq have been recruiting underage soldiers from a displaced people’s camp south of the city of Irbil, where some 35,000 people are estimated to be living.

“The recruitment of children as fighters for the Mosul operation should be a warning sign for the Iraqi government. The government and its foreign allies need to take action now, or children are going to be fighting on both sides in Mosul,” Bill Van Esveld, HRW’s senior children’s rights researcher, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Van Esvald also urged the United States to press Iraq to make sure there are no underage fighters within its army or militias that support the government.

According to HRW, Daesh terrorists, outlawed in many countries including the United States and Russia, have been extensively recruiting children into their ranks.

Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq with a population of 500,000 people, has been controlled by Daesh since 2014. Iraqi forces backed by Kurdish Peshmerga militia are currently preparing an assault to liberate the city.

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