(AFP) – More than 50 child soldiers recruited by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in Syria have been killed since the beginning of this year, a monitoring group said on Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of 52 child soldiers, all under the age of 16, who had been part of Isil’s “Cubs of the Caliphate” program. The programme provides intense military and religious training to children throughout Isil’s areas of control in Syria, the Britain-based Observatory said. As many as 31 were killed in July alone, in explosions, clashes, and air strikes by Syria’s regime and the US-led coalition.
