Child soldiers enlisted to fight against Islamic State in Syria

c. 2014 USA Today

QAMISHLI, Syria (RNS) A Kurdish boy who looks no older than 11 staffs the entrance of a military base in northeastern Syria.

His pants drag on the ground and his shirt hangs off his bony shoulders as he stands in an ill-fitting military uniform next to a Kalashnikov automatic rifle. Like many of the child soldiers in local Kurdish forces, he refuses to give his name or provide his age for fear of retribution.