Special Dispatch-Egypt/Lebanon/Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project
September 1, 2006
No. 1276
Egyptian Weekly on Hizbullah's Armed Children's Militias: Over 2,000
Children Aged 10-15 Serving
In its August 18, 2006 edition, the Egyptian weekly Roz Al-Yusuf featured an
investigative article by Mirfat Al-Hakim titled "Hizbullah's Children's
Militias." The article reveals that Hizbullah has recruited over 2,000
children aged 10-15 to serve in armed militias, and that the
Hizbullah-affiliated Mahdi Scouts youth organization is training them to
become martyrs. The article is accompanied by a photo, which can be viewed
in the HTML version of this Special Dispatch and at
http://www.memri.org/images/uploaded/sd_127606_1.jpg .(1)
The following are excerpts from the article:
Hizbullah Recruits Children Barely 10 Years Old
According to Roz Al-Yusuf, "Hizbullah has recruited over 2,000 innocent
children aged 10-15 to form armed militias. Before the recent war with
Israel, these children appeared only in the annual Jerusalem Day
celebrations, and were referred to as the 'December 14 Units,' but today
they are called istishhadiyun ['martyrs']...
"Hizbullah has customarily recruited youths and children and trained them to
fight from a very early age. These are children barely 10 years old, who
wear camouflage uniforms, cover their faces with black [camouflage] paint,
swear to wage jihad, and join the Mahdi Scouts [youth organization]...
"The children are selected by Hizbullah recruitment [officers] based on one
criterion only: They must be willing to become martyrs."
The Children Train to Become Martyrs
"The children are educated from an early age to become martyrs in their
youth, like their fathers, and their training is carried out by the Mahdi
Scouts youth organization... [This organization], which is affiliated with
Hizbullah, teaches the children the basic principles of Shi'ite ideology and
of Hizbullah's ideology... The first lesson that the children are taught by
Hizbullah is 'The Disappearance of Israel,' and it is always an important
part of the [training] program...
"The Mahdi Scouts organization was founded in Lebanon on May 5, 1985...
According to the organization's website, the number of [scouts] who had
undergone training by the end of 2004 was 1,491, and the number of scout
groups which had joined [the organization] was 449, with a membership of
41,960. According to the organization's most recent statistics, since 2004,
120 of its members have been ready to become martyrs.
"The organization's goal is to train an exemplary generation of Muslims
based on the [principle of] 'the rule of the jurisprudent' [a founding
principle of the Islamic Revolution in Iran], and to prepare for the coming
of the Imam Mahdi [the Shi'ite messiah]. Its members, including the
children, undertake to obey their commanders, to bring honor to the [Muslim]
nation, and to prepare themselves for helping the Mahdi [when he comes]."
"A Nation With Child-Martyrs Will Be Victorious"
According to the article, Na'im Qasim, deputy to Hizbullah Secretary-General
Hassan Nasrallah, said in an interview on Radio Canada: "A nation with
child-martyrs will be victorious, no matter what difficulties lie in its
path. Israel cannot conquer us or violate our territories, because we have
martyr sons who will purge the land of the Zionist filth... This will be
done through the blood of the martyrs, until we eventually achieve our
goals."
Endnote:
(1) Roz Al-Yusuf (Egypt), August 18, 2006.
*********************
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent,
non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle
East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background
information, are available on request.
MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with
proper attribution.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Phone: (202) 955-9070
Fax: (202) 955-9077
E-Mail: memri@memri.org
Search previous MEMRI publications at www.memri.org
| 
