The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed coalition of mostly Kurdish militia units operating in northeastern Syria, has maintained de-facto control over much of the oil-rich eastern area of that Middle Eastern nation since the start of the Syrian conflict in the early 2010’s.
A new report to Congress by the Office of the Inspector General at the US Department of Defence has criticized the SDF militias’ ongoing practice of recruiting child soldiers, with the militia forces reportedly promising to stop doing so since at least 2014.
“Considerable additional detail on the SDF’s actions to end the use of child soldiers subject was provided in the [Department of State] Country Report on Human Rights Conditions section for Syria for 2019, issued in March 2020, but the report also notes allegations that children were still being forcibly conscripted and that at least one 14-year-old boy was killed in fighting in Baghouz in early 2019,” the report indicates.
