While children around the world learn the alphabet in their native languages using animals, foods or household items, the Islamic State is using weapons to indoctrinate the young.
In a new smartphone application, the terrorist organization uses guns, cannons, tanks and swords to teach children the alphabet, according to a new report.
The app has games for memorizing and how to write the Arabic letters in addition to including a nasheed (a cappella Islamic songs) designed to help teach the alphabet, the Long War Journal’s Caleb Weiss writes.
“The alphabet app is not the Islamic State’s first mobile application. However, it is the first to be directed exclusively to children. The (jihadi) group has also produced several videos from many of its proclaimed provinces showing children being trained for jihad or being indoctrinated at Islamic State-ran schools. Other videos have shown children being involved in beheadings and executions of prisoners held by the Islamic State,” Weiss reports.
The app is not the first example of using technology to educate and indoctrinate the tenets of the Islamic faith to children.
In an educational video game released in Qatar, a mother tells her daughter that by not wearing the hijab, the daughter was allowing Satan into her life.
The Islamic State also released apps in recent months that allow for encrypted messaging, as well as news, resourcing and recruiting applications for Android devices.
According to Tech Insider, the Islamic State uses common apps to communicate among themselves and plan attacks, including the deadly assault on Paris, where more than 120 were killed.
The terrorist organization reportedly uses non-U.S.-based email services like Hushmail and ProtonMail, as well as Twitter and Mappr to share locations.
Most of the apps are available through file-sharing websites, though the children’s app is the first program to be directed exclusively to children.
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