HESEKÊ - 700 children ISIS used as a shield in the Hesekê operation, were placed in rehabilitation centers. 

 

The operation launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after the ISIS attack on the Sinaa Prison in Hesekê's Xiwêran District on January 20 continues. As part of the operation, many ISIS members who attempted to escape from the Sinaa Prison and were stationed in the Xiwêran District were killed in the clashes. More than a thousand ISIS members in Sinaa Prison surrendered on January 26, the anniversary of the liberation of Kobanê. 

 

700 CHILDREN

 

One of the issues that came to the fore most after the attacks were the children whom ISIS defined as Eşbal El-Xîlafe, which means "lion cubs of the caliphate". ISIS tried to use 700 children held in the rehabilitation center in the Xiwêran neighborhood as human shields against the clean-up operation. SDF forces made a statement about the use of children as shields and drew the attention of the public.

 

ATTENTION WAS PAID FOR THE CHILDREN

 

The reason why the SDF was not able to respond heavily against the ISIS attack was the children. At the first day of the attack, news outlets like AFP and BBC wrote that they were held captive by the ISIS. While UNICEF drew attention to the children, SDF published a statement and told that they were honouring the international child protection agreements. SDF advanced slowly and rescued all the children from the ISIS.

 

CALL TO THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

 

Calling on the international institutions including the United Nations (UN), North and East Syria Autonomous Administration addressed the countries to establish a mechanism for the children from different nationalities over and over again but these calls were left unanswered.

 

While the Mesopotamia Agency (MA) photographed the children rescued from ISIS, hundreds of children were placed in different rehabilitation centers in Hesekê. In the statement made by the administration, it was stated that these children are not under arrest, they were held to be rehabilitised and a call was made to the countries where these children are citizens of to establish a mechanism that could solve this problem.

 

 

MA / Nazım Daştan