The terrorist YPG/PKK is recruiting foreign orphaned children, held hostage at a camp in northern Syria, and training them to fight Turkish and Syrian forces, security sources claimed Tuesday.
The security sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media, said a terrorist who surrendered to security forces in southeastern Turkey's Mardin revealed the information.
Identified by the initials H.A., the terrorist said the orphaned children, held hostage at the al-Hol Camp in northern Syria's Hasakah, were being forcibly trained to use weapons.
Over 100 children, aged 12-14, have been forcibly recruited and taken to a camp in al-Roj for training to fight the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and Syrian National Army (SNA).
According to the sources, the YPG/PKK resorted to such tactics after suffering a heavy blow in the face of Turkey-led counterterrorism operations. The group has had difficulty replacing terrorists who surrendered, escaped or were neutralized.
It was a sign of the terrorist group's last-gasp efforts to avoid disintegration, the security sources added.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot.
