Photo: Mother in shock as Saudi father smuggles kids to join IS in Syria

Shurooq Al-Mehaini could not bear to see a picture of her two sons carrying assault rifles and bombs after they had allegedly joined the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Photos showing Abed Al-Shayeq, 11, and Ahmed Al-Shayeq, 10, posing with their father in front of an IS banner have been widely shared on social media, days after their mother resorted to Twitter to voice her concerns.
One of the sons is shown in the picture holding an AK-47 in one hand, a grenade in the other.
The boys were accompanied by their father who abducted and sneaked them out of the Kingdom to Turkey, from where they reportedly crossed into Syria.
The mother received a text-message from the father asking her to consider her children "birds in paradise," a phrase used to describe "martyred" children.
The father initially told the mother he was taking the two boys on a trip to one of the Gulf countries, when in fact he was making his way to Syria through Turkey.
The boys' mother has been taken to hospital after she suffered a mental breakdown. The picture of her sons holding weapons has not been verified but was released on Twitter by the extremist group.
The distraught mother said she intends to go to the Grand Mosque in Makkah to pray for her sons' safe return. Meanwhile, officials at the private school in which the two children were enrolled at said there were no signs that the father, Nasser Al-Shayeq, was an extremist.

One of the photos being circulated on the social media shows Abed Al-Shayeq, 11, and Ahmed Al-Shayeq, 10, posing with their father in front of an IS banner.

They described him as "well-mannered" and eager to participate in his sons' lives. The school's deputy headmaster Muhammad Abdulfattah Ibrahim described Abed and Ahmed as hardworking students who participated in school activities.
"Abed was a member of the Boy Scouts and his troop was placed second in the Riyadh region. This year, he got promoted. His younger brother was also hardworking and excelled in his studies. He eagerly took part in school programs and was serious in his studies. He was well-mannered in his dealings with his schoolmates and teachers and was liked by all," he said.

School administrators and teachers expressed shock when they read the boys had been kidnapped by their father to join the IS.
The teachers said there were no indications that they inclined toward deviant or extremist thought.
The Kingdom's ambassador to Turkey, Khalid Mirdad, said the Saudi Embassy had been informed officially of the incident by the boys' family last Thursday.
The embassy has started taking the necessary measures to facilitate their return to the Kingdom.
Mirdad said a letter has been submitted to the Turkish government requesting their help in locating the children.
Since the children were in their father's company upon their arrival to Turkey, they would not have been considered kidnapped under Turkish law, Mirdad said.