Daily Alert Archives

So You Wanna Be a Hizbullah Fighter?

[TIME] Andrew Lee Butters - Hizbullah recruiters keep an eye out for young Shia Muslim students in both Hizbullah-run schools and the national school system. They look for energetic kids, violent kids, and smart kids, from the age of seven into the late teens. From the start, Hizbullah organizes its child recruits into cells of about five kids, with each cell having its own kid commander, and their own missions: usually games and exercises like treasure hunts. The training stresses the path to martyrdom, which is achieved through honesty, prayer, and combat. This ideological training can last for years. All along the way, the trainers are on the lookout for those with special abilities. The lazy ones - with the ability to sit for hours on end without getting bored - are chosen as lookouts to watch Israeli troop movements; the brave ones are chosen for attacks, the smart ones are chosen for intelligence and security; and the smart and unpredictable ones - the guys who don't look or act or behave at all like fighters - get chosen for counterintelligence.
2008-03-26 01:00:00
Full Article