Islamic State Releases Video with Youngest Female Fighter

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group has debuted a video of a girl it claims is the youngest female fighter in its ranks. The video, posted online by the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium (TRAC), features both a speech from the girl and other children at a training camp. It is the terrorist group’s latest propaganda video featuring children.

In the video, a man in white threatens Zionists and claims IS will “reclaim their lands.” He also says the group “prepared a new generation that will fight you until their martyrdom or victory.” He turns to the young girl, who appears to be at least seven years old, as proof of his claims.

“Praise be to Allah, the lord of the worlds, the most gracious prayers and greetings on our Prophet Mohamed and his family and companions,” she says, adding:

I call for all Muslims on the surface of this earth to openly flow to Jihad in Bilad al-Sham [the Levant] and against the tyrants of al-Sham, and Hezobollah and the Iraqi Shiite gangs who have come to Syria to kill the women and children and to wreck havoc in Bilad al-Sham, and we must uproot them from our land and not leave a single one of them, and we will continue our jihad until we take back Jerusalem and lift the banner of “There is no god but Allah and Mohammed the messenger of Allah” in the streets of al-Quds [Jerusalem] and above the al-Aqsa mosque, for tomorrow is ours, and it is near. Praise to Allah, lord of the worlds. Takbeer.

IS ends its segment with “Allahu Akbar.” The screen jumbles, but then it focuses on a training camp for children. The cameraman claims these two children are the “descendants of the messenger.” The picture is somewhat blurry as the man instructs one boy, who appears to be around eight years old, how to load a rocket launcher. After the boy successfully loads the machine, the man tells him to say “Allahu Akbar” and to move to the other boy, Abdul Rahman. He tells Rahman to scream “Allahu Akbar” and pull the wire to launch the rocket.

The first segment does deter from IS’s other training videos with children. IS follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law, which means women do not join men on the battlefield. In fact, when the group started its jihad, it persuaded women not to join. IS only allowed women after it needed females for Sharia law. Men are not allowed to examine women at checkpoints or medically. The jihadists also need women to reproduce and set up marriage centers across Syria.

Another reason the Islamic State does not typically use females is because being killed by a female is the worst thing that can happen to a jihadist. These terrorists believe if they sacrifice their life on earth for jihad, Allah will reward them with 72 virgins in heaven. IS members hate the female Peshmerga, the Kurdish army, because if they are killed by a female, their reward is in jeopardy.

“The jihadists don’t like fighting women, because if they’re killed by a female, they think they won’t go to heaven,” one female fighter told The Wall Street Journal.

In other videos, no longer available on YouTube, males are the focus. One video shows white Bosnian children, mainly boys, shouting “Allahu Akbar.” At one training center, boys between five and seven-years-old show off their military skills for Chechen leader Omar al-Shishani. IS also posted a video from a training camp in Ninevah that was filled with children.