One of the most despicable things militias around the world do is recruit children at the tender age of 12, after poisoning their minds with their dark ideology, and I do not mean brainwashing.
Iran engages in this militia-like behavior, despite being expected to act as a state. This accusation is not based on the US State Department’s latest report on human trafficking, which accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Houthi militias in Yemen of doing so, but on what has been captured on camera.
Video clips show children carrying weapons, including AK-style assault rifles, or standing alongside members of the IRGC and other forces at checkpoints and during patrols, as well as at military gatherings organized by the state in Tehran, Mashhad, and Kermanshah.
In March of this year, Rahim Nad Ali, an official with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran, announced the launch of a campaign called “Defenders of the Homeland for Iran.” Through this campaign, he called on volunteers aged 12 and above to register at Basij bases across the capital.
In Yemen, the Houthis do the same with children, or juhhal, as they are described in some Arabic dialects, including Yemeni. Anyone watching videos showing captured Houthi fighters will find juhhal approximately 12 to 16 years old, carrying their weapons and parroting the Houthi slogan.
These children grew up under Houthi rule in areas under the group’s control. For at least 10 years, the Houthis have maintained a firm ideological and educational grip on their souls and minds. In other words, they have taken these children from the cradle into the Houthi fold. They know nothing of Yemen, its people, its history, or its neighbors except through the eyes of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, Hamza al-Houthi, al-Hakim, al-Ajri, al-Bukhaiti, and those who follow in their footsteps.
In 2007, the Fiqh Academy affiliated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued a summary of its opinion on the age of religious accountability, while imposing certain restrictions. Among these was the stipulation that the age of 15 marks the point at which religious obligations become binding. Nevertheless, it stated: “In financial and criminal matters, the authority may determine an appropriate age of maturity according to the public interest and in light of local and environmental circumstances.”
This means that the criteria for mental and psychological maturity can change from one era to another and from one age group to another. There is no fixed age for this. An 18-year-old today, for example, is not the same as an 18-year-old 40 years ago. Maturity, psychological capacity, and social skills differ.
But returning to the main point, the danger posed by the Houthis and groups like them, much as ISIS did during the several years it controlled parts of Syria and Iraq, lies in shaping the consciousness and culture of an entire generation, one whose fate has placed it under the influence of these dark groups.
This is a battle for awareness and a struggle over education and upbringing before it becomes a battle fought with rifles or traditional Yemeni daggers. Frankly, I find Yemeni educational and media content addressing this front to be weak.
