Since it came to Deir Ezzor, the terrorist organizations have practiced the most appalling practices against the people of the province, where even children, women and old people have not been spared from the repression and arrogance of these organizations which imposed their extremist laws on people under the cloak of religion.
Perhaps children have been the most affected by the results and consequences of terrorism, as they can easily be affected by the surrounding environment, because of their physiological nature, which make it easy for exploiters to control and use them for their own agendas.
When Daesh was in control of Deir Ezzor, children were deprived from their basic rights that they were granted in the divine religions and human laws, such as the right to learn, health, live in peace, play and other rights.
The terrorist organization, Daesh, violated all charters and conventions that preserve the rights of children. It used them in its war against Muslims most of all. Hundreds of incidents that reflect Daesh terrorism have occurred in Deir Ezzor, and here we are going to mention an example:
Abu Ahmed, from al-Ishara city, east of Deir Ezzor, said:
“In 2015, an incident, that I will never forget in all my life, occurred while I was on my way to the market, to buy some stuffs. My three-year-old son Ahmed was with me, I took him with me to have some fresh air as he used to stay home, when Daesh was in control.”
He continues:
“Ahmed sat in front of me on motorcycle, and we rode to the market near our home. We arrived there and bought some stuffs. Ahmed was very happy, but all of a sudden everything changed, what happened? “Hisbah” elements of Daesh surrounded the market and prevented all from leaving. It didn’t took much time before someone started talking over loudspeakers, telling everyone in the market that Daesh would carry out a “punishment”, and everyone in the market should see it.”
Abu Ahmed added:
“Unfortunately for me and my son, the punishment square was chosen by the organization in the middle of the market, right in front of us, and very quickly the preparations were made, and everything was ready for the punishment to be carried out, and here was the disaster, my little boy had to watch this horror, it was only moments before they brought down a young man who was in his 20s, chained up, from one of their cars and they sat him down on the ground, and someone said that he would be decapitated, and that’s what I was afraid of. Quickly the executioner started to carry out the sentence. He held a knife and started to slaughter the young man, at this point I didn’t know what to do. Ahmed was watching but I couldn’t close his eyes, for fear that they might kill me. The knife wasn’t sharp enough to slaughter the young man, which made things worse, so the executioner tried another one, but it also did not work, so their emir went mad, took a rifle from one of his elements and emptied it in the young man’s head. Blood flowed to form a puddle around the body, all that happened while Ahmed was still watching. He did not say a word, his face was pale, and spent all his day like this while I was watching him.”
Abu Ahmed said, “since that day, my son has been suffering from psychological problems, such as incontinence and panic attacks.
Ahmed’s harsh experience was not the only one with regard to Daesh terrorist practices against children, where hundreds of criminal incidents took place against the children of Deir Ezzor and other areas that were under the control of the terrorist organization of Daesh, which prevented children from attending school, to be able to control them easily and use them in its dark project. Children were also denied their right to play, as the organization was treating them as adults. It forbad them playing, and enforced them to learn how to use weapons and martial arts if they wanted to play. The organisation also planted ideas of rebellion in the minds of children against their parents, especially teenagers, attracting them to join the ranks of the organization. This unhealthy situation, which is alien to the society, caused a crack in the structure of family, and hundreds of children went missing because of the organization.
Two years have passed since Daesh terrorism was eliminated in Deir Ezzor. Now, society is gradually returning to normal life, children are trying to catch up with their childhood, and their parents are trying to compensate them for all what they have missed during the time of Daesh, may they restore their rights that have been taken away from them by Daesh terrorism.
