Report with a blade above the neck

The New Times contacted Skype with an activist of the anti -Islamist underground in the capital of the Caliphate, which was proclaimed by the Islamic State group (IG)

Armed Islamists take part in the military parade on the streets of Rakki (Syria)/ Photo: Reuters/ Stringer on one of the central squares of Rakki, the city in the northern Syria, 100 km from the Turkish border, the crowd surrounded a small bloody patch: children in the forefront, two decapitated bodies are from the edge, the next victim, a young man with closed white with a bandage with eyes, stands on the knees; The executioner in a black balaclava tilts him forward, he instinctively springs his neck back, the executioner presses it again, so that it is more handy, lurks a long wide yatagan and cuts off his head from one blow. The people screaming in approval.

“Such scenes for Rakka are not uncommon. The Islamic State captured our city in January 2013, and now even for children a public execution - as entertainment. Sometimes it happened to see ten executions per day - when they chopped heads captured by the fighters of the Free Army of Syria (SAS) or Bashar Assad military. But it also happens that a couple of weeks will not be executed at all, and then again almost every day-it all depends on the course of battles and the number of prisoners, ”-22-year-old Abu Ibrahim Rakkavi (the name changed), a former biologist, and now an anti-Islamist underground activist that has been operating in the capital of the caliphate since April. He says that the customs of the morals publish the schedule of executions, inviting everyone.

Complete Sharia

Not everyone is chopped-only to prisoners, activists-“atheists”, “spies” and killer criminals. Thieves, in accordance with the laws of Sharia, chop off their hand. For smoking - forty strokes with whips, the same - for non -compliance with Ramadan, when there is only one after sunset. For alcohol or drugs - death, for marital treason - stoning, rapids are crucified in the sun, and passers -by beat the crucified sticks and throw it with stones until it dies.

“Gray minivans of the morals of morals are driving through the streets, who is watching, who is dressed, who is doing what,” Abu Ibrahim repent. - There are armed police officers, but there are simply with sticks, but those and others can arrest you. If a woman is inappropriately dressed, if Nikab does not completely cover her face, she is taken to prison and kept there until her father or brother picks her up. ”

In addition to the “official” police, there are secret agents in Racca, as well as a lot of secret informants of IG: “People have no money, IS pays well for any denunciation,” says Abu Ibrahim.

IG militants burn cigarettes confiscated from the population on Rakki Square on April 2, 2014/ Photo: Reuters/ Stringer

There are many in the ranks of the secret police and women who are walking around the market all day, they look, listen. They love children and children: they also pay money for denunciations for neighbors and even parents. Abu Ibrahim, of course, did not hear about Pavlik Morozov, but he says that such stories are not uncommon for Rakka, so people are afraid to speak even at home: “Islamic terror has one goal: to intimidate the people as much as possible, to deprive him of their will, to make hungry, poor people live in fear, rejoicing in a piece of bread. Only in this way can they rule us. ”

Death for the photo

Abu Ibrahim created the anti -Islamist organization with 16 friends. “When the Syrian revolution began, we opposed Bashar al -Assad,” says the young man. - Then the Islamists came, we decided that we would fight with them. We are against everyone who encroaches on our freedom. ”

Young people are fighting without weapons: “We just remove, document everything that happens in the city. The world should be in the know. ”

It is forbidden to photograph in Racca - IS sees spies in all. In the mosques during the Friday prayer, the imams anathematize activists, calling for every Muslim who will know something about the “enemies of Allah with a camera”, immediately kill them.

“In April, we lost one of ours,” says Abu Ibrahim. -My friend Mukhtaza accidentally detained the police police, checked his phone, on which there was some kind of video from Rakka's streets. A few days later he was executed. He was only 21 years old. ”

True, the system of telephone conversations has not yet set up the system of wiretaps. “Here they differ for the better from the secret police of Bashar,” the interlocutor of the magazine is ironic.

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“My friend Mukhtaza accidentally detained the police police, checked his phone, on which there was some kind of video from Rakki streets. A few days later he was executed. He was only 21 years old "

“PHOTOS AND VIDEO SIGNIVERS Take the underground, hiding phones in the folds of clothing (even“ soapses ”use it too dangerous). In addition, activists sometimes leave phones with the camera on in the central squares of the city, and then they take them and download the material. All photos and videos are transferred to the Turkish city of Gaziantep, not far from the border with Syria. There are four other refugees from Rakki there They check the materials, look that there is nothing to give under the underground-and put them on the site of the Raccu Organization destroy them in complete silence (Raqqa is being slaughthedly)-http://www.raqqa-sl.com, as well as on the pages of accounts in the accounts of accounts Facebook and Twitter.

Caliphs are not for an hour

Of the 300 thousand inhabitants of Rakka, about 80 % after the arrival of the IG remained in the city: they just have nowhere to go and have nothing to go. Bashar administration officials ran away at the very beginning of the revolution, Christians - shortly before Racca fell under the control of IG, the SAS fighters either fled or were killed. There is food in the city, water is from Euphrates, there is no centralized power supply - all Racca lives at the expense of generators. After American airstrikes that destroyed almost all oil refineries in the region, gasoline rose three times: from 100 Syrian pounds per liter to almost 300 (from $ 0.6 to $ 1.6), and food prices took off: 100 Syrian pounds cost a airstrike, and then went up to 200 ($ 0.6 - $ 1.2). “It’s cold in houses, almost no one has money for heating,” says Abu Ibrahim. - Only the rich can heat with firewood, and in winter the temperature drops to zero at night. So far, American raids have been harmful only to us, civilians, there is no damage from them. ”

Schools and universities do not work in Rakka, hospitals are open only for the wounded from the front - they do not accept civilians there. “There are district doctors leading private practice, but there is still no money for medicines. And if hospitalization is needed, then you can immediately prepare a shroud: there is nowhere to operate even appendicitis, ”says Abu Ibrahim.

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“I have an Internet cafe next to my house, and there they constantly call their relatives on Skype. Once I myself heard how one in Russian spoke with my mother, she called him home, and he refused, said that it was better here "

“At the same time, the fighters of the IS themselves do not experience anything:“ They are everywhere: in stores, in Internet cafes, they always have money for everything. They always have beds in hospitals, they drive good machines with new machine guns and RPGs, ”says Abu Ibrahim.

In all the mosques of Rakki there are collection points of the IG, on which hungry Rakkians are called upon to replenish the ranks of the Jihad fighters. According to Abu Ibrahim, they pay a lot of money by local standards: from $ 500 to $ 1000 per month, depending on the rank. Foreigners are paid more than local ones, at the front-more than in the city. However, according to the report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the salary of ordinary IG fighters is about $ 200, while the average salary in Racca is $ 100–150.

According to the observations of Abu Ibrahim, up to 80 % of the IG fighters are foreigners. They come from all over the world and speak all languages ​​- Racca turned into Babylon: Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, France, England, Germany, the USA, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan. “Many visitors speak Russian among themselves (Abu Ibrahim himself studied Russian at the university). I have an Internet cafe near the house, and there they constantly call their relatives on Skype. Once I myself heard how one in Russian spoke with my mother, she called him home, and he refused, said that it was better here, ”recalls Abu Ibrahim. Another case: the Chechens with the Uzbeks staged a shootout in the city of Tabka near Rakka - did not share their favorite house. Since in Arabic visitors speak poorly, IS formed national squads: visitors from the former countries of the USSR fight in Russian detachments, from France or Belgium-in franco-speaking. But everyone is studying Arabic - the language of the Koran and Caliphate.

Children's jihad

In mid -November, the IS administration allowed to open some schools, however, the program was very cut - they canceled geography, history, literature, everything regarding the arts. Only mathematics, Arabic and English remained, as well as the study of the Koran and the laws of Sharia. Boys and girls study separately, children are forbidden to use colored pencils, for any misconduct - flogging. There is, however, another compulsory discipline: children are forced to look at the death executions so that they get used to the new realities of the caliphate.

Schoolgirls on the streets of Rakki. March 31, 2014/ Photo: Reuters/ Stringer

According to Abu Ibrahim, which are confirmed by the HRW reports, several camps for children were created next to Racca where future IS fighters are being prepared. Parents of adolescents aged 12 to 18 years make a tempting offer: if they give their son to the IG camp, they will receive $ 100 per month for him (according to HRW). However, Abu Ibrahim claims that they give one -time payments up to $ 500. “It is impossible to refuse. Those who disagree are arrested, they say that they are enemies of Allah, and they take the children by force, ”says Abu Ibrahim. Orphans and orphans fall, including executed for any misconduct of the Rakkians.

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According to Abu Ibrahim, which are confirmed by the HRW reports, several camps for children were created next to Racca where future IS fighters are being prepared. Parents of adolescents aged 12 to 18 make a tempting offer: if they give their son to the IG camp, they will receive $ 100 per month for him

”According to a report published in August, the Syrian Human Rights Committee in Syria and Iraq fights from 200 to 300 thousand minors. Abu Ibrahim told The New Times, according to his data, only in one camp next to the city of Tabka, where the children of his acquaintances were found, they are divided into three groups: they are divided into three groups: in one prepared Solvers are taught by the art of making bombs for terrorist attacks, from the third, soldiers for daily battles go out, after which “students” are waiting for another 45 days of practice. To mini cars for street battles, every day they are allotted for ideological work for several hours - not only the study of the Koran, but also “a simple brainwashing, during which they are explained that their enemies are the enemies of Allah, to kill them - to earn a place in paradise, to die on the battlefield - the highest happiness for the Muslim”.

According to the testimonies of numerous sources, at the end of the course, in addition to the usual exams for the ability to handle weapons and the knowledge of the Qur'an, there is one more: the camp graduate must decapitate the sentenced to execution with his own hands.

However, at the front, such fighters do not survive for a long time: the percentage of those killed among yesterday's “cadets” is higher than among adults. Sources of HRW in SAS told the organization: on the battlefields left by the IG, there are a lot of bodies of children with weapons in their hands.

“IG are fanatics who do not stop at anything,” Abu Ibrahim sums up. - They do not mind either themselves or their children, they are happy to die in the struggle against the infidels. The world must understand that the whole planet is in danger. ”