A chiling new video from the Islamic State group shows children as young as five being indoctrinated to become the next generation of jihadist fighters.
In the nine minute video released via the internet on Monday, 70 children, who are believed to be the children of ISIS members, stand in formation while wearing camouflage military-style attire and the group's trademark black headbands. An instructor in the video states that children represent the "next generation" of ISIS and are in the second phase of jihadist training.
The tape, which was apparently taken at a military training center called the Al Farouk Institute for Cubs in Raqqa, Syria, also shows the children quoting the Koran, kneeling in prayer and answering religious questions while Arabic music plays in the background.
Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst for the Clarion Project, a New York based research institute that tracks global terrorism, told Fox News, that this kind of military training is supported by many of the children's parents.
"If you believe the ISIS caliphate is the best place to be and Allah commands you to go there, you'd want your family there, too," he said.
He added, "ISIS is emphasizing its child recruits because it obviously makes for good footage but also to emphasize this is a generational struggle...you can kill off the current leaders and fighters, but their kids will fight on. It makes it harder to celebrate ISIS' losses if you know their manpower will be replenished and brainwashed with children.
This is not the first time shocking reports have emerged regarding ISIS' indoctrination of children.
In December, a Twitter account linked to the bloodthirsty group showed a jihadist instructor training children for combat, complete with beheadings and shooting lessons.
"Yes, Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah (Islamic State) is training children. Watch and learn," ISIS fighter Qa-qa al-Baritani wrote on Twitter.
The self-identified ISIS fighter added that "We are the army of the Khilāfah and our opposition is the camp of disbelief," noting that "there is no camp in-between."
According to Damien Sharkov of Newsweek, the video, entitled "Blood of Jihad 2," featured footage of boys around the age of 10 who received "training" from their instructor, who punched and kicked each pupil and broke sticks over their heads. The instructor was also shown kicking the children in the stomach.
In one particularly disturbing account, a video released by ISIS in January showed a young child executing two men the terror group claims were Russian spies. In the video, the boy shoots the prisoners in the head repeatedly with a pistol.
Additionally, a CNN report from September shared the story of a 13-year-old boy who escaped one of these camps, and said that he witnessed militants carry out beheadings, stonings and a crucifixion.
"They used to bring young [kids] to the camp to lash them," the boy said.
"When we go to the mosque, they order us to come the next day at a specific time and place to [watch] heads cut off, lashings or stonings. We saw a young man who did not fast for Ramadan, so they crucified him for three days, and we saw a woman being stoned [to death] because she committed adultery."
The United Nations Human Rights Council has denounced such operations, arguing the training camps directly violate international law that prohibits children from being used in war.
"The existence of such camps seems to indicate that ISIS systematically provides weapons training for children," the U.N. has said. "Subsequently, they were deployed in active combat during military operations, including suicide-bombing missions."
