Islamic law takes hold in northern Syria: Singing, smoking and pictures banned

[flowers]

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Islamic-law-takes-hold-in-northern-Syria-Singing-smoking-and-pictures-banned-338771

BEIRUT - A group linked to al-Qaida, emboldened by its recent victory over rival rebels in Syria, has imposed sweeping restrictions on personal freedoms in the northern province of Raqqa as it seeks to consolidate control over the region.

Reuters obtained copies of four statements issued on Sunday by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) prohibiting music being played and images of people being posted in public.

The sale of cigarettes and shisha water pipes are banned, women must wear the niqab, or full face veil, in public and men are obliged to attend Friday prayers at a mosque. Violations of the rules will be punished according to sharia, or Islamic law.

The directives, which cite Koranic verses and Islamic teaching, are the latest evidence of ISIL's ambition to establish a Syrian state founded on radical Islamist principles.

[Atomic Cow]

Assad's troops will put down the Islamists sooner or later, and it will be a good day.