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Ain Issa: A Community Besieged
Syria Deeply spoke to locals from Ain Issa as fighting between ISIS and Kurdish forces continues.
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Ahmad al-Bahri is a contributor for Syria Deeply
Follow via RSSSyria Deeply spoke to locals from Ain Issa as fighting between ISIS and Kurdish forces continues.
Syria Deeply recently spoke with a woman who agreed to be the wife of an ISIS fighter in Raqqa.
Residents tell Syria Deeply that ISIS has divided Raqqa and assigned responsibilities to its local leaders, in a systematic bureaucracy of religious rule.
‘In Raqqa, it seems the color black and fear go hand in hand’.
‘We were forced to go on strike and close our shops until ISIS provides us and the people of Raqqa with enough power’.
‘Where do we go and where do we find a safe haven?’ one asks.
“We will not stay in our homes waiting for death to find us because of some [military] targeting error,” one resident says.
With total control over the province, the Sunni militant group cracks down further on civilians – especially women.
Activists and residents here say that since the start of Ramadan on June 27, fighters have been handing out zakat, or alms, of 2,000 Syrian pounds ($12) to every person who pledges allegiance to ISIS.
Their mandate? To apprehend civilian women who do not follow the organization’s strict brand of Sharia law.
Residents say the group is training young boys and teenagers in the ways of both its laws and fighting methods.
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