Syrian Activists Flee Abuse in Al-Qaeda-Run Raqqa

[Comrade Grumpy]

Source: BBC

A citizens' protest movement has been challenging the jihadist group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), an affiliate of al-Qaeda, after its fighters attacked churches in the city of Raqqa.

But activists who have fled to Turkey told BBC Newsnight that many had been arrested, beaten or kidnapped by ISIS in retaliation.

Raqqa, a city currently sheltering nearly a million people, is now under the full control of the group.

<snip>

Mr Matar said: "They banned the sale of alcohol, they tried to close cafes where boys and girls sit together, they banned street theatre, cinema, bright colours, and forced women to wear Islamic dress. They are the new dictators, just like Bashar al-Assad, but dressed in black. Only the colour has changed."

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24926584

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Here's the money quote: "Now Raqqa, its population swollen by displaced families, may be the largest city in the world ever to be controlled by al-Qaeda."

Well, ain't that peachy keen. The US government, through its support of armed insurgency in Syria, is in a de facto alliance with Al Qaeda.

[DhhD]

1. Bush destabilized the Islamic Balance of Power in the Middle East. We are years and years away from

restabilization. Two Presidents that have not learned what it is to respect the sovereignty of culture, being intend on imperialism instead.

[mallard]

2. Re: damage incurred by US policy in the region ...

... is hardly addressed in the halls of congress. There's no real accountability from either the former or current administration. Arrangements for a complete social meltdown in the Arab world could not have been more aptly imposed than with all the consistantly misguided claims of offering help to those countries ruined to date ... when it's been about forcing change through armed conflict and bad results all along.

It will be more like decades and decades at best.

[Jesus Malverde]

3. McCains Neocon Militia.

That anyone would support these murderous Jihadist over a secular socialist government shows the depravity and cynicism of those formenting this evil.

It's been said, that our special forces, young men who came of age in the 9/11 era, throw up a little in their mouths when they are ordered to train these religious fanatics.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/21/world/la-fg-wn-cia-syria-20130621