Iran recruits children as young as 12 for military roles amid ongoing conflict

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is recruiting children as young as 12 for military-linked roles including checkpoint duties, patrols, and intelligence activities. The recruitment campaign called 'Homeland Defending Combatants for Iran' has lowered the minimum age and operates through mosques and the Basij paramilitary force. An 11-year-old boy was killed at a checkpoint while accompanying his father, a Basij member, during an Israeli drone strike.