The Islamic State terror group has released a disturbing new propaganda video showing child soldiers executing shackled prisoners in a twisted version of hide-and-seek.
The video, titled "To the Sons of Jews," begins with an unidentified person browsing the Web on a computer, apparently looking for images of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, before posting a message and video to Facebook, according to Heavy.com.
In the next scene in the video, which was shot in the Wilayat al-Khayr region of Syria, a group of young ISIS terrorists are shown studying and practicing martial arts with an instructor.
Then, six of the young fighters, masked and apparently below the age of nine, are ordered to play the "game" by their instructor.
The children proceed to stalk six tied-up prisoners in an ancient fortress before shooting five of them in the head from close range. After beheading the sixth victim, the children report back to their instructor and pass the handguns to other recruits.
In one of the scenes, a boy can be seen beheading a prisoner while saying "Obama, we'll behead you, as we will do to all the Jews."
While many of the children have been kidnapped by ISIS fighters from various parts of Iraq and Syria, some are recruited with their parents' consent as part of a "military training exercise."
Although the exact number of child soldiers currently fighting for the militant group is hard to estimate, since the beginning of this year, ISIS is believed to have recruited more than 1,100 children, AINA reports.
"They use children because it is easy to brainwash them," Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory, told Reuters. "They can build these children into what they want. They stop them from going to school and send them to IS schools instead."
In July, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that over 50 child soldiers recruited by the Islamic State group in Syria have died this year. All of the children were under 16 years old, the report noted.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Sunday night, U.S. President Obama vowed that the United States would defeat ISIS and the threat of terrorism - without compromising American values.
"The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it," Obama said. "Our success won't depend on tough talk or abandoning our values or giving in to fear."
He said victory against the Islamic State would involve hunting down "terrorist plotters" around the world and urged technology and law enforcement leaders to "make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice."
Emphasizing that "We are on the right side of history," the president charged that "We were founded upon a belief in human dignity."
"That no matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you look like or what religion you practice, you are equal in the eyes of God and equal in the eyes of the law ... Let's make sure we never forget what makes us exceptional. Let's not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear," he said. "So long as we stay true to that tradition, I have no doubt that America will prevail."
