In doing so, it has slowly begun to dictate the way civilians there must act and dress. This highly conservative mandate is a large part of what has fueled anti-ISIS sentiment in the city, especially among women.

We asked Lama Fakih, Syria-Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, and Reem Assil, a well-known activist vocal on Syrian women’s issues, to weigh in on whether ISIS is tearing at what remains of “normal” Syrian life.

Lama Fakih, Syria-Lebanon Researcher, Human Rights Watch:

I think that’s absolutely the case. We have documented in governates in northern Syria, including Raqqa, Hassakeh and Aleppo, the ways in which ISIS and other armed extremist groups are trying to restrict people’s behavior by imposing arbitrary rules. In terms of the types of policies they’re implementing, we’re looking at restrictions on women’s dress, and in some cases women being forced the wear the hijab to go around in public. And when women have failed to do so, they have been restricted in their ability to move around, or in some cases to access humanitarian aid.

There are also restrictions on women’s employment and access to education, and more broadly speaking, ISIS and other extremist groups are administering justice in an arbitrary way that has led to detention, execution and, really, the intimidation of anyone who would speak out against their practices.

In the case of these arbitrary restrictions for women, we spoke to over 40 individuals who described the ways this is having significant impact on their lives and saying that this, and not the ongoing violence, was in fact why they had fled their homes and were now refugees. When we see one group taking over an area and beginning to impose these rules, it does have a significant impact on a person’s ability to lead a normal life. The ability to wear what you want, to continue your job, your education, and to live in a secure environment: all of these things are affected.

Reem Assil, Syrian-British activist: 

I think that ISIS is doing something odd to the Syrian social fabric. I think it will be rejected by Syrian society sooner or later, of which you’ve recently started to see some signs [in the form of protests]. It’s not only about restrictions on women’s life, it’s on everyone’s life. Even their restrictions towards men are, for many people, unacceptable.

In areas held by ISIS, guys are complaining about their restricted movement in general: they can’t buy cigarettes, they can’t smoke in public, they can’t drink alcohol. I’ve heard that even buying Coca-Cola or Pepsi is becoming an issue because it’s often prohibited. I think that’s because it’s American. In the past, there were calls to boycott U.S. products, and Coca-Cola and Pepsi were at the top of this list. And men have to hide their cigarettes, like if they’re smoking in taxis; they have to get rid of them before they get to ISIS checkpoints [along the road].

This is unbearable for Syrian people. Sooner or later, it will be rejected: the Syrian people won’t withstand this kind of life. I was recently in Lebanon and everyone in the streets were talking about ISIS. I didn’t imagine that its impact would be as big as I find it is now. Syrian people have awakened to the importance of taking some action against ISIS, to re-taking control of their areas.

Before this, in Raqqa, people were moderately conservative. I would say that there is an Islamic trend among the Syrian people, but it’s definitively moderate. Even if the most conservative areas in Syria, like Raqqa or the eastern parts of Syria where women might not have been allowed to work or make important decisions about their lives on their own, it has never been [as severe] as what ISIS is imposing on people’s lives.

For example, it was not common there to see women going out and drinking alcohol in the streets, but you’d see women smoking shisha. In Raqqa, I knew a lot of girls who wore makeup when going out in the streets, even when wearing a hijab. But it would be a colorful hijab, with jeans worn in a fashionable way, with the makeup. It was totally different than what ISIS has imposed on them now.