The Israeli army's Combat Intelligence Collection Corps released surveillance footage on Thursday showing Islamic State-affiliated militants along the Israeli border in Syria training underage children to use weapons.
The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade is a Salafi Sunni group that controls a strip of land in southern Syria, near the point where Israel, Syria and Jordan meet. The group swore allegiance to Islamic State in 2014.
In the footage captured by the Israel Defense Forces operatives are seen training underage recruits to use weapons. The group has been recruiting child soldiers to counter a manpower shortage, after having incurred losses while fighting the regional terrorist group Tahrir al-Sham, affiliated with al-Qaida.
The IDF does not believe that the Islamic State operatives in the Syrian Golan Heights are currently planning to target Israel, as they are mired in internal Syrian power struggles at the moment. But Israel is maintaining vigilance nonetheless.
In 2016, the IDF retaliated to an attack on one of its infantry patrols along the border by the group. The Israeli Air force struck targets in Syria, killing at least four terrorists, wounded others and destroyed an entire military base.
The footage released Thursday was taken by the 595th "Ait" (eagle) Battalion, under the command of the Bashan Division charged with guarding the Golan Heights border. The battalion collects field intelligence from surveillance outposts, patrols and ambushes on the Syrian border.
