According to Abu Ibarhim Ar-Raqqawi, Tahrir Souri’s reporter in Ar-Raqqa city, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant runs a prison in the basement of the governorate building in the city. The cells are similar to regime prison cells, eighteen meters long and three meters wide. The prison is filled with offenders who’ve violated some new law the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has decided to instate. There isn’t enough space for the prisoners to sleep, food is scarce, and detainees are only allowed out once for an evening bathroom break. There is also a torture room in the prison with an electric chair, whips, and tools to suspend prisoners in the air.
In the same vein, Mohammed, a resident of Ar-Raqqa, describes life under the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as one with “both positives and negatives, just as the life under the armed opposition forces had its positives and negatives. Life under armed opposition groups, whoever they may be, isn’t good at all. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other armed opposition groups each have their share of authoritarian despots. Life was still better under Ahrar Al-Sham and Jabhat Al-Nusra than under the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Ar-Raqqa.”
Despite this, Ahmad says that “life under the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is bad, it’s still better than life under the regime, at least we know the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s stay here is temporary.”
Mohammad recalls an incident that occurred to him while visiting a friend’s house. He and a few of his friends met and sat down to some tea and narghila (Otherwise known as hookah or shish). Not long after, a number of Tunisians belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant raided the home and arrested all present. While the initial sentence was a stay in prison, a Saudi member of the State intervened on their behalf and let them go.
Women in Ar-Raqqa are left alone, members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant tend not to interfere with the women in the city. The only confrontations between members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and women occur when women aren’t dressed in what the State considers “legal” attire.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been accused of hypocrisy. The fighters lounge about in the night and follow every soccer World Cup game, yet bans the residents of the city from watching the games, and designates it an illegal act because the games “distract one from worship”. The night of the first game of the world cup saw fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant raid local coffee shops. The fighters dismantled and seized the TV screens and receivers that night.
Abu Ibrahim Ar-Raqqawi spoke to Tahrir Souri of the attitudes of the residents of the city. He said the people are unhappy about the taxes levied when fighters belonging to the State make up to $1000 a month. He added that shop owners are now required to pay a SYP 3000 monthly tax excluding water taxes. In addition, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant recently collected 5 percent Zakat on the wheat harvest.
Abu Ibrahim Ar-Raqqawi adds “in Ar-Raqqa it’s difficult to tell who the richest fighter is because they all have fancy phones and laptops and eat food the residents can’t even afford. You head to the restaurants or cafes in the city, they’re filled with State fighters while the residents of the city starve. If one wants food, one must stand in line for several hours at the relief kitchen established by a local pharmacist. In the city the residents have noticed that Tunisian fighters are the strictest, often blaming us of unbelief, while the Saudi and Egyptian fighters are the most lenient.”
“Fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are often heard chatting about the Emir Al-Baghdadi in the local markets. When asked whether they had seen him or not they reply saying they haven’t seen him.”
Tahrir Souri spoke to a few residents of Ar-Raqqa about their day-to-day life. One resident said: “love and passion have met their demise in the city, no longer can people interact and seek a love interest, there’s no where to meet. All the places to meet people don’t help in meeting people anymore, the colleges, private institutes, things like that. All forms of communication have been severed.”
Commenting on the claims made by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant suggesting that it is here to fight the regime, Abu Ibrahim Ar-Raqqawi said that their “jihad” is for nothing more than show, jihad a mere excuse for colonization. He added that if the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was interested in fighting the regime, they’d head over to the regime occupied Division 17 only a few hundred meters out-of-town instead of harassing the residents and imposing pointless laws. Among these laws was one that banned photographs of daughters, wives, and sisters on men’s phones. Failing to abide by the law would result in 30 lashings. Another such bizarre law was the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant demanding, on minaret loudspeakers, that shop owners rewrite the prices of products in big, Arabic numbers. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant also requested information from social security and welfare workers on who attends prayer, saying that those who do not are not deserving of Zakat. “He who really wants to perform jihad and establish and Islamic State must be knowledgeable in matters of religion and Sharia whether a foreigner or Arab”, added Abu Ibrahim Ar-Raqqawi.
When Tahrir Souri asked a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on why he’s brought his family with him, he replied “I’m a human, brother. I have my needs and must fulfill them within what is permissible, so I bring my wife with me. My children need my wife, so they come too. Also, women have in important role in food preparation and cleaning up.”
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