Syrian rebel groups sending children into war: HRW

Mohammad (R), a 13 year-old fighter from the Free Syrian Army. [courtesy]

Militant Islamist groups in Syria are recruiting children as young as 15 and sending them into battle after promising them a free education, a Human Rights Watch report said on Monday.

The report said the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has made rapid territorial gains across the border in Iraq, had given children weapons training in Syria and told them to carry out suicide bombings.