In April of last year, the Nusra Front—now called Jabhat Fateh al-Sham—launched a campaign they called, “Mobilize,” in northern Syria, intended to recruit children. The campaign was conducted by 300 recruiters from the group and adopted the slogan, “Don’t be one of the qaideen [people who do not actively fight; the opposite of mujahideen].” Although it was intended to last no more than a month, the campaign is still ongoing and has now attracted 5,000 recruits to combat Shia militias.
Nusra does not ask for parental approval. “Defending religion and family are a duty, but those who want to join should leave matters of atonement to the scholars, and consider the blood of Muslims; those who do so consider it both a matter of Sharia and a military need,” the Nusra statement said. In order to achieve the widest distribution possible, millions of leaflets were printed and several social media accounts were created to promote the campaign. These promotional materials explained that everyone who joined Nusra would first undergo Sharia courses and then be sorted according to needs in order to receive military training. The campaign also called on merchants to support Nusra, claiming it would be unable to equip everyone who joins without assistance.
Aiming to roll back the “Mobilize” campaign, civil society activists launched a campaign titled, “Children, Not Soldiers,” in the city of Idlib and the surrounding countryside, the countryside west of Aleppo, and the countryside north of Hama. Their campaign aimed to educate against the practice of arming children—targeting the “Mobilize” campaign in particular. The head of the activist campaign, Essam Zeidan, spoke about its importance by saying that “Children, Not Soldiers” would last as long as “Mobilize.” It aims to fight until the “Mobilize” campaign is dismantled. By last June, as many as 500 children between the ages of thirteen and seventeen had joined the campaign. This included 350 children from border camp—particularly Camp Atma—and 150 from northern Syria—particularly Idlib and the surrounded countryside—according to campaign sources. The children included Syrians from within the country as well as those living in Turkey.