It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
originally posted by: TerrorAlertRed
a reply to: Rosinitiate
Maybe it wasn't just a Western engineered plot to invade Syria.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story contained reporting about ISIS and education. CNN has concerns about the interpretation of the information provided and we will update the story when we can verify what is happening.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story contained reporting about ISIS and education. CNN has concerns about the interpretation of the information provided and we will update the story when we can verify what is happening.
DUBAI: Thousands of children in swaths of war-torn Syria, now controlled by dreaded Islamic State militants, can no longer study math or social studies under new diktats issued by the jihadists.
While sports is banned, the children will not be allowed to learn about elections and democracy.
Instead, the children will be subjected to the teachings of the radical Islamist group. And any teacher who dares to break the rules "will be punished."
ISIS announced its new educational demands in fliers posted on billboards and on street poles, CNN reported.
The Sunni militant group has captured a slew of Syrian and Iraqi cities in recent months as it tries to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, spanning Sunni parts of both countries.
In the letter, ISIS said alternative courses will be added.
It also said teachers must erase the phrase Syrian Arab Republic, the official name of Syria, and replace it with Islamic State.
Educators cannot teach nationalistic and ethnic ideology and must instead teach "the belonging to Islam ... and to denounce infidelity and infidels."
Books cannot include any reference to evolution. And teachers must say that the laws of physics and chemistry "are due to Allah's rules and laws."
The letter ends with a firm warning: "This is an obligatory announcement, and all violators will be punished." 200 Syrians killed in one day.
The brutal advances of ISIS in Syria come as the country grapples with a three-year civil war with no clear victor in sight.
The UN estimates more than 190,000 people have died in the violence between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebels seeking an end to four decades of al-Assad family rule. In recent weeks, the IS militants killed two American journalists and a British aid worker, prompting world leaders to form joint front to eliminate the newest threat.
The IS group has carried out abuses including beheadings and crucifixions, and faced a backlash from Syrian rebel groups opposed to its violations and harsh interpretation of Islam.
BAGHDAD -- The extremist-held Iraqi city of Mosul is set to usher in a new school year. But unlike years past, there will be no art or music. Classes about history, literature and Christianity have been "permanently annulled."
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has declared patriotic songs blasphemous and ordered that certain pictures be torn out of textbooks.
Play VIDEO
Fighting ISIS: Former CIA deputy director on call to send U.S. troops to Iraq, Syria
But instead of compliance, Iraq's second largest city has - at least so far - responded to the Sunni militants' demands with silence. Although the extremists stipulated that the school year would begin Sept. 9, pupils have uniformly not shown up for class, according to residents who spoke anonymously because of safety concerns. They said families were keeping their children home out of mixed feelings of fear, resistance and uncertainty.
"What's important to us now is that the children continue receiving knowledge correctly, even if they lose a whole academic year and an official certification," a Mosul resident who identified himself as Abu Hassan told The Associated Press, giving only his nickname for fear of reprisals. He and his wife have opted for home schooling, picking up the required readings at the local market.
The fall of Mosul on June 10 was a turning point in Iraq's war against the jihadi group that calls itself the Islamic State. The U.S.-trained Iraqi military, harassed for months by small-scale attacks, buckled almost instantly when militants advanced on the city. Commanders disappeared. Pleas for more ammunition went unanswered. In some cases, soldiers stripped off their uniforms and ran.