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[Ali]When I was 11, I was taken away to be trained by militants. They taught me how
to use weapons. They said a weapon meant everything, even more than our fathers.
[Habib]They intimidated us, blew up schools. They said the Syrian
Arab Army were dogs, that their heads should be chopped off.
[Imad]My heart became hard like a rock, full of hate. We
were sent to the front, and fought the Syrian Arab Army.
WHERE CHILDHOOD DIED
[GEO] DOUMA 10 KM FROM DAMASCUS
[Ali]Militants came 7 years ago. Until then, Douma was a paradise.
[Ali]It was a green city with well-lit streets and many parks. It felt
safe and peaceful. After they came, we hardly left our homes.
[Ali]The trees and street lights were gone. They destroyed my country.
ALI
[Ali]When they first came to get us, I was with my friends.
[Ali]We were about to play football. Armed guys came for us in a
black van, with blacked-out windows. They had weapons
and forced us to go with them. One of them blindfolded us, so we
wouldn't know where they were taking us. Those who resisted
were taken away by force. They put a gun to their heads and
forced them into the van. Some ran away, but they were
caught and threatened. We didn’t know where they were taking us.
[Ali]There was war there, I can't even describe it. Gunshots everywhere.
DOUMA WAS CONTROLLED BY THE JAYSH AL-ISLAM GROUP FOR MORE THAN 3 YEARS
IT WAS LIBERATED BY SYRIAN GOVERNMENT FORCES IN APRIL 2018
DURING THE OCCUPATION, THE MILITANTS BUILT AN EXTENSIVE TUNNEL NETWORK
THEY FORCED LOCAL MEN AND CHILDREN TO DIG IT
[Ali]They forced us, blindfolded, into the tunnels. We didn't know where they'd taken us. If
someone fell, they pushed and beat us. The blindfolds only came off when we got to the end.
[Ali]They gave us wagons and pickaxes and told us to dig. One guy dug. Another put the
dirt in a wagon and pushed it to the surface. They unloaded it, creating piles of mud.
[Ali]They beat those who didn't follow their orders with a rifle, stick, or whip.
[Ali]The food was awful, inedible. They starved us, and never let us out of the tunnels.
[Ali]If someone escaped, they tracked him down and killed him.
ONE TUNNEL LED TO JAYSH AL-ISLAM’S HEADQUARTERS
THEY CONTAINED: UNDERGROUND PARKING
OFFICES
A PRINT SHOP
AND A CONFERENCE HALL
[ALI’S MOTHER]Every time they took my son, I thought I'd lost him. Many children died
in the tunnels. Some were suffocated underground, some died when tunnels collapsed.
[Ali’s Mother]I never knew if my son was alive until he came home.
[Ali’s Mother]But we couldn't refuse the militants.
[Ali’s Mother]He came home in a bad mood, tired, and went straight
to bed. He cried at night. He was scared and so was I.
[Ali’s Mother]He used to sit in this corner, while his brothers and sisters
played, but he didn't. He sat there all alone. I sensed his fear.
[Ali]They had a vehicle with an open back. They'd shove a man out and put a gun to his head. They either cut
his throat or shot him in the head. They attached chopped-off heads and bodies to cars and drove around
like that. It was for all to see, adults and kids alike. When my brother saw it, he started talking to us,
aggressively. Sometimes, he attacked us If we make him mad, he threatens to kill himself, or one of us.
[Ali’s Mother]This is my youngest daughter's toy. My son was shocked…when he witnessed people
being executed in marketplaces. He saw people being stabbed, strangled, and shot.
[Ali’s Mother]One day, I saw him grab a knife, step on the doll, and cut its head off.
[Ali’s Mother]He said: 'I cut the way they used to cut'.
[Ali’s Mother]Sometimes, he grabs a knife and starts chasing his sister or brother.
[GEO]MASKANAH ALEPPO GOVERNORATE
MASKANAH WAS CAPTURED IN LATE 2013
IT FIRST FELL UNDER THE CONTROL OF AL-NUSRA FRONT, AND THEN ISIS
ALL THE CITY'S CHILDREN HAD TO ATTEND SO CALLED ‘SHARIA COURSES’, WHERE THEY WERE TRAINED AS FIGHTERS
MASKANAH WAS LIBERATED BY SYRIAN GOVERNMENT FORCES IN THE SUMMER OF 2017
[Habib]We weren't allowed to go to ordinary schools. They all were closed.
[Habib]I was 8 when they started forcing us to go to the mosque
school. They taught us how to disassemble weapons.
[Habib]They told us the Syrian Arab Army were dogs.
[Habib]They said that if we killed a Syrian Arab Army soldier, we would go to heaven and have concubines after we died.
HABIB
[Habib]We didn't want to learn how to assemble weapons,
but we were forced to. They hit us on the hands with canes.
[Teacher]Name the colours of the Syrian flag.
[Children]Green... red... white... black.
[Teacher]OK! Students!
[Teacher]The Syrian flag has three… [Children]…colours! -…colours!
[Khaula Abdullah]When ISIS came, they focused on the children. They
started forcing their ideas on them. I'm an art teacher. When I ask
my students to draw something, to express their deepest feelings,
they take a sheet of paper and reveal what they are holding inside.
[Khaula]For example, sometimes a child might draw a corpse and say this person was killed by ISIS.
[KHAULA ABDULLAH, TEACHER]Despite the horror and hardships, we've returned
to school, and try to help the children forget the fear, as much as we can.
[Children]Two armies fight in it… - Two armies fight in it…
[Children]The smartest wins on the battlefield… - The smartest wins on the battlefield…
[Children]In this war, there are Kings and Queens... - In this war, there are Kings and Queens...
[Children]And Rooks and Bishops too... - And Rooks and Bishops too...
[Children]And Knights, who follow an ‘L’ when they move... - And Knights, who follow an ‘L’ when they move...
[Hanin]I was 6. They took me and my cousins there. They made us attend Quran courses.
[Hanin]They blew up schools, made us go to mosques, and taught us about weapons.
[HANIN, HABIB’S SISTER]I was afraid of ISIS fighters, they looked frightening and had scary beards.
[Hanin]They're gross. I was scared. You could be punished
for cigarettes. Sometimes we had guests who smoked
[Hanin]We'd go back in the morning and pick up all the butts, so
they wouldn't arrest our Dad. That was what I was most afraid of.
[Ahmad Al Mohammad]Much can be said about ISIS.
[Ahmad]Praised be Allah, they were kicked out when my kids were tiny.
[Ahmad]Many kids went down the ISIS path, attracted by money,
by marriage, by talk of how they would fulfil Allah's will.
[Ahmad]They had kids in Sharia courses and brainwashed them.
[AHMAD AL MOHAMMAD, HABIB’S FATHER]Children from 14 to 16 were heavily influenced by
ISIS. Some forbade their fathers to smoke, or reproached mothers for not wearing a hijab.
[Ahmad]One boy ratted on his brother. His father scolded him: 'Why did you complain to ISIS
about your own brother?' Then ISIS took the father away and chopped both their heads off.
[Ahmad]In this region, many people had children taken, and they
never came back. They were brainwashed, there's no way back for
them. Kids, whose fathers and older brothers joined ISIS, followed
them and joined too. They're not here now. Everyone's gone.
[Ahmad]They executed people here for even minor infringements of Sharia Law. They put a wooden
cross here. They hammered nails here. They'd bring a corpse, tie it to the cross,
and leave it for 2-3 days. Severed heads were given to kids to play with. If they
were shot, the head just dangled. In Maskanah, it used to happen once or twice a week.
[Ahmad]After they took the bodies off the cross, they
put them on the road and made people drive over them
[Boy]We saw it all here [Ahmad]It happened all the time! [Boy]We got used to it!
[Correspondent]Do you remember scenes like
these? Were you afraid? [Boy]No! I wasn't scared
[Habib]They chopped off heads and forced children to play
football with them. After I saw that, I started having nightmares…
[Habib]I was scared.
[GEO]DOUMA
[Imad]They came to our house and took me away. My name was on their lists.
[Imad]I was 13 when I started training and attending the Jaysh al-Islam courses.
IMAD
[Imad]Most important were the Quran and stories from the prophet's life. We learned about weapons: assembly,
disassembly, to shoot. The first time I held a gun, I thought I was the coolest kid in the world.
[Imad]We were trained to be cruel. They said the Army
would slaughter us, that they are infidels. Then they
sent us to the front to fight the Syrian Arab
Army. My heart became hard like a rock, full of hate.
IT TOOK THE SYRIAN ARAB ARMY SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO LIBERATE DOUMA
JAYSH AL-ISLAM MILITANTS REPELLED THEIR ATTACKS
WITH THE HELP OF CHILD SOLDIERS
CHILDREN FROM THE AGE OF 13 WERE SENT TO THE FRONT LINE
[Imad]We were ordered to monitor the Syrian Arab Army's progress and hold
the line. We kept watch from 6 in the morning until 6 in the evening.
[Imad]We watched them from here. If they advanced, we fired back.
[Imad]I fired like this, and then took cover…
so they wouldn't know where I was. Then I'd go back
and fire at them like this.
ANYONE WHO REFUSED TO COOPERATE WITH JAYSH AL-ISLAM WAS JAILED
MILITANTS HELD MORE THAN 3,000 PEOPLE PRISONER,
INCLUDING CHILDREN
[Imad]I was evil so I sinned. I wanted to desert, but they
didn't let me. I sinned and was arrested. They sent me
to jail and tortured me here. I spent five months
in jail. I slept here. I couldn't use the toilet, I had
to do it right here… I was tortured, beaten with
chains. Lots of people died here. People screamed, were
beaten, and hung from the ceiling. They brought us
food in bowls like this. One for water and one for food.
[Imad]They gave us rice and rotten vegetables.
[Imad]They used these pans to douse us with water.
[Imad]That's my calendar, I drew a line every day for my 5 months here.
[Imad]They beat me, I screamed and suffered.
[Imad]Sometimes, I still hear the screams. In those moments, I want to kill myself.
[Ali’s Mother]Once, I saw my son on the street. He was tying a rope. He'd had a fight with
his brother or sister and he wanted to hang himself. He's really traumatized.
[Omar]Hi! What's up? Is it Ali? [Man]No. Ali's over there. [Omar]Hello.
[Omar]Hi, say hello to Teddy! How are you doing? [Ali's brother]I'm fine.
[Omar]Do you know what a little birdie told me? [Ali's brother]No.
[Omar]Shall I tell you? [Ali's brother] Yes. [Omar]She said you once had a knife
and wanted to stab a toy! Right? [Ali's brother]Yes. [Omar]So, the little
bird told the truth. Why did you stab the toy? [Ali's brother]It was fun.
[Omar]Fun with a knife? [Ali's brother]I wanted to stab the doll.
[Omar]Didn't you feel a bit sorry for the toy? Why not play with it instead of stabbing it? Show me what you did.
[Omar]Don't you feel sorry for it? It's a toy. Right?
[Omar]The violence this child saw affected him He tries
to copy what he saw, but can't, so he does it to his toys.
[OMAR AHMAD, CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST]Many schools complain about children that are
aggressive and uncontrollable. So, they're sent to child support centres like this one.
[Omar]OK, guess what! Can you guess? Your brother Ali is upset with you!
[Ali's brother]Why? [Omar]You scared him by threatening him with a knife!
[Omar]What if your brothers didn't want to be with you anymore? Don't do that. No scaring him with knives.
[Ali's brother] No.
[Omar] I'll give you a toy, if you get scared,
play with it, it's lovely. What shall we call it?
[Omar]Sesame. Sesame is your friend.
[Omar]You can't stab him! Here's the knife, we don't need it anymore! You mustn't take the knife! Is that OK?
[Ali's brother]Yes.
[Omar]Deal! Sesame will be your friend! If you have nightmares, you can tell him all
about them. And you can take him next time! OK? Give him a hug, hug your new friend.
[Omar]If the child was a bit older, we'd have to isolate him and have specialists
and doctors treat him. We have to get him out of this state because he's a danger to
the public now. But he's still young so we can handle it. Sometimes, you just need to
give a child a toy so he remembers that he's just a kid, something he simply forgot.
[GEO]MASKANAH ALEPPO GOVERNORATE
[Ahmad]We've got a Better generator that produces our electricity.
[Ahmad]There's no power in the area, every substation was destroyed. They cut
all the cables and left nothing, they destroyed all infrastructure.
[Woman]Did you make a copy of my passport?
[Ahmad]Locals fled their homes because of ISIS,
and now they have no IDs. Everything was burned.
[Ahmad]After the region was liberated, order was restored and people
returned to their homes. They had to get new documents done from scratch.
[Habib]How many documents? [Woman] And a passport.
[Habib]A passport too? That's it? I don't have a fifty.
[Ahmad]Of course, my son's better at all this: he's young and bright.
[Ahmad]He works the copier and talks to people more than I do. I'm his helper, not the reverse.
[Ahmad]Praise be to Allah, I have a garden center, I also supervise a project on power stations that ISIS
destroyed. As soon as we have water, it will all be restored and life will be better, praise be to Allah.
[Ahmad]Our tribe has lived here since ancient times. We're indigenous
to the region, children of the land. Any who come to destroy
our homes, invaders or terrorists, we will prevail.
[Ahmad]We will die here and never leave our homes, it's our land, our country.
[Correspondent]What do you want to be when you grow up?
[Habib]A soldier.
[Correspondent]Why?
[Habib]To kill ISIS dogs.
[Correspondent]Why do you want to kill them?
[Habib]They intimidated us…They gave us human heads to play with.
[Imad]The most popular job now is in construction…
[Imad]The Jaysh al-Islam militants left, and I was able to escape.
[Imad]When the Syrian Arab Army came, I was really afraid. But
when I encountered them, I thought they were very nice.
[Correspondent]How do you see your future? [Imad]I have no future.
[Imad]I have no profession. As a kid I thought my future would be to fight
with gun in hand. What can I do after liberation? Fighting is all I know.
[Ali]Kids my age are in 9th grade now, but I dropped out from the 4th.
[Ali]They said at my age. I can't be in 4th grade and put me in the 6th.
[Ali]I want to be a journalist, to learn foreign languages and travel.
[Ali]We haven't been allowed to study.
[Ali]It's my dream to get a good education.