Mon Aug 29, 2016 17:39:27
The streets of Manbij, northern Syria, are gradually coming back to life, Al-Alam News Network reports.
ISIS seized the town around two years ago and used the city as a hub for recruiting and processing foreign fighters. But earlier this month, the Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces crossed the Euphrates and drove ISIS (Daesh / ISIL) militants out of Manbij after a 10-week campaign.
For those who still lived here under ISIS, life became terrible - particularly for women.
Ten-year-old Darine Baki says the group encouraged children to expose parents if they were unbelievers “If a family member disbelieves, they taught us how to whip or slaughter him,” she recounts.
According to another female resident, Lava Baker, ISIS put women in a cage if they disobeyed their instructions. And locked them in for long enough to potentially kill them.
There were no rights for women, according to Amina Mamo. “If she goes out onto the street she gets tortured, if they see your eye then they will whip you, if she accompanies her husband in the street without wearing socks, she’ll get arrested,” Mamo explains.
Many can hardly believe they are finally rid of the militants’ rule. Their recent defeat essentially blocks a supply route ISIS has between its defacto capital of Raqqa and Turkey.
S/SH 11
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