ISIS seeks to attract more foreign fighters by opening two English-speaking schools for their children
Militants
fighting for the Islamic State in Syria are seeking to attract more
foreign recruits by opening two English-language schools in the terror
group's de facto capital city.
Activists
working undercover in the ISIS stronghold Raqqa uncovered plans for two
schools - one for boys and one for girls - where most lessons will be
taught in English, not the local Arabic dialect.
The
plans are just ISIS' latest attempt to build establish a
fully-functioning state within the vast swathes of Syria and Iraq it
controls through a campaign of rape, massacre and brutal oppression.
Last
summer the terror group declared the territory a so-called caliphate
and said it as the duty of all Muslims around the world to live under
the regime. Since then tens of thousands of foreigners have done just
that, with English becoming a lingua franca among the militants and
their families.
Details of
the two new English language schools were revealed by a local activist
named Abu Ibrahim Raqqawi, whose group 'Raqqa is Being Slaughtered
Silently' operate undercover in the city to expose ISIS atrocities and
report on local developments in the terror stronghold.
He
uploaded a photograph to Twitter showing a typed-poster that had been
put up informing local fighters that the two schools are soon to open.
The poster
reads: 'By the grace of Allah we have opened schools for English
speaking children. The boys school is named Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi School
(formally known as Al Qadhim School) and the girls school is called
Aisha School and is located next door'.
It
then goes to say that the schools cater for children aged between six
and 14, and lessons are run between 9am and midday between Saturday and
Wednesday. The children therefore have Thursday and Friday as a weekend.
Religious
lessons, Mathematics and English Language are all taught in English and
take up the majority of the day, although a minority of lessons, such
as the teaching of Arabic Language and the reading of the Koran are
conducted in Arabic.
The poster
gives a phone number for parents to call if they are interested in
enrolling their children and instructs them to ask for a militant named
Abu Muhammad.
The
purpose of opening English language schools in Raqqa is two-fold -
firstly to stop English-speaking families leaving the territory over
concerns about their children's education, and secondly to raise a
generation of bilingual young men to continue the ISIS reign of terror
for years to come.
The
news comes as Syrian Kurdish forces advanced against Islamic State
fighters in two separate attacks in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi
border on Sunday, an organisation tracking the war reported, compounding
recent losses for the militant group in Syria.
The
Kurdish YPG militia has been one of Islamic State's toughest enemies in
Syria and last month flushed the group out of the town of Kobani with
the help of U.S. and allied air support and Iraqi Kurdish reinforcements
on the ground.
Hasaka
province in the northeastern corner of Syria is strategically important
in the fight against Islamic State because it borders areas controlled
by the group in Iraq.
In
an attack backed by U.S.-led air strikes, the YPG advanced to within 3
miles of Tel Hamis, an Islamic State-controlled town 22 miles southeast
of the city of Qamishli, Kurdish official Nasir Haj Mansour said.
The YPG had decided to launch the attack after Islamic State reinforced its positions in the area with foreign fighters.
It
is the latest example of coordination between the U.S.-led alliance and
the YPG in the fight against Islamic State, which has seized wide areas
of Syria and Iraq and declared them part of a cross-border 'caliphate'.
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