The concept of child soldiers is not a new one, nor is it one that is easy to stomach. The latest surge in child soldiers has been in Mosul as extremist groups take control of cities in an effort to enforce an Islamic state.

ISIS – the militant group who is recruiting all these children – is a strict Islamic militant group whose ambitions to dominate are not matched by their mere 4000 members.

They need more soldiers, and what easier way than to start a trend among young children – it is exciting and cool to join the forces and convenient for the revolutionaries to take on such malleable young minds before they have fully formed and become resistant to propaganda.

While some mothers have pleaded with the movement’s leaders to release their sons and have their children back at home, it is a terrifying reality that many of the children will realise too late that innocence is too easily lost and can never be regained.

The sad fact of the matter is that for the foreseeable future, children who should be laughing and care-free will remain weighed down by guns they are barely strong enough to carry let alone understand how to use.

Find more info and pics of this terrifying trend on The Daily Beast.