Preface: Thousands of Markadah civilians, south of al-Hasakah city, suffer from many scourges, due to controlling the Islamic State /ISIS[1] over their country. As its agents, within the town, oppressed locals in different ways, either by extorting and forcing them to get out the town leaving their property and shops, or even by storming their houses every day, in order to pressure on them and get them out.
ISIS tries to evacuate the town of its inhabitants in September 2017, in order to secure shelter for its members and their families who come from the Syrian city Deir ez-Zur, after the fighting intensified, or from the Iraqi city Mosul after ISIS lost it, in favor of the Iraqi forces, the matter that many residents of the town confirmed to Syrians for Truth and Justice/STJ/ reporter.
Markadah is about one hundred and five kilometers south of al-Hasakeh, located just after the town of, Ash Shaddadi controlled by the Syria Democratic Forces/SDF/[2] since February 2016. Markadah is currently considered the last and largest strongholds of ISIS within administrative boundaries of al-Hasakeh province, with a population of 35 thousand, according to official statistics issued by the Personal Statues Department of the Syrian Government.
First: How ISIS Controlled Markadah
In March 2013, Syrian Regular Forces withdrew from the town, and some armed opposition factions took control of it (its fighters mainly hail from the al-Aqidat and El-Jahaish, tribes) and later merged with al-Nusra Front in the same year.
One year later, on March 15, 2014, ISIS headed to control Markadah, thus violent confrontations broke out between its agents and those of al-Nusra Front[3]. The fiercest one was on March 29, 2014, when the clashes ended with ISIS taking control on Markadah and its villages, that caused killing dozens of al-Nusra Front fighters, and about 13 ISIS agents as well, number of al-Nusra Front agents fled the town and others pledge alliance to the new organization /ISIS/.
Over the following years, ISIS took Markadah as a staging point for the attacks on villages and surrounding areas in the southern countryside of al-Hasakah in order to wrest it from other forces such as Syrian Democratic Forces/SDF/ preceded by the YPG People's Protection Units, such as Ash Shaddadi, al-Hadadiyah, Zeenat and Tal al-Jayer. Therefore, ISIS managed to take control of Ash Shaddadi on February 14, 2014, but SDF came back to retreat the town on February 21, 2016, as a result, ISIS began to oppress and commit numerous bad practices against people of Markadah, in order to prevent them from coup, or even standing by SDF. That parallel with the attacks launched on the ISIS stationed points in Markadah by International Coalition Warplanes of the military junta under the banner of SDF.
On the heel of the violent clashes between ISIS on one hand, and the Iraqi army alongside its allied forces on the other hand, in order to control and wrest Iraqi city, Mosul, from ISIS. However, many members of ISIS commenced to flee their families from the city, starting from March 13, 2017. As many ISIS agents accompanied with their families flocked to the Syrian borders, particularly to Markadah. The thing that led ISIS agents to force many Markadah people to leave their homes at gunpoint, using different types of blackmail to secure shelter for their agents and their families coming from Iraqi-Syrian border, according to several people’s testimonies, which STJ reporter could get.
Second: Extortion and Harassment of Shopkeepers by Agents of al-Hisbah Centre / rijaal Hisbah
Many of Markadah people forced to leave their houses and shops, as a result of non-stop bad practices they were exposed to, by al-Hisbah Centre[4] agents/ rijaal Hisbah/ affiliated to ISIS, within the town. The matter that was confirmed by Ammar Abu Youssef, a breadwinner and father of four children, who had left Markadah town on August 15, 2017, and went to the house of one of his relatives in al-Hasakeh city, after he was obliged to sell his shop, which is his sole source of livelihood, due to harassment by al-Hisbah agents. In this regard Ammar spoke to STJ saying:
Since July 2016, Markadah has been subjected, almost weekly, to the most severe bombardment by International Coalition warplane, in an attempt to force ISIS agents to leave their stationed points within the town. But the organization always responded to these raids by sending suicide bombers and carrying out hit-and-run operations on the military points of SDF, particularly in the villages located on clash points between Markadah and Ash Shadadi. These were the reasons why we wanted to leave the town. Bur to make matters worse, that I've been exposed to harassments by agents of Hisbah center/ rijaal Hisbah, since I owned a shop for selling air conditioners, where they registered a lot of violation notes for no reasons. They also forced me to install air conditioners for their offices and houses without paying, and that is what prompted me later to sell my shop at a cheap price in order to put an end to these agents’ practices. And also for the sake of me and my family’s safety, especially after I got news that many civilians will be exposed to harassments in order to get them out of town and prepare it for the families of ISIS agents whom fled the battles in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zur, as well as Iraqi city, Mosul.
Ammar said that he was forced to pay 500, 000 Syrian pounds to get out from Markadah, as he had agreed with a smuggler, worked for ISIS, as he described, and since the organization punished all those who had been arrested trying to flee. Ammar found himself eventually without money, house or even a country, so he preferred to survive with his family and leave with the least possible human losses, as he expressed.
Haytham al-Laji, a resident of Markadah, also decided to flee on August 17, 2017. He had a small shop to sell fuel inside the town, but agents of Hisbah center forced him to pay (100 000) SYP per month, as a tax, for this profession, that matter pushed him to flee the town to one of his relatives’ house in Ash Shadadi. Haytham said in his testimony to STJ:
"At first, I have been paying the tax to support my wife and children every month, though ISIS agents were used to come to my shop and fill fuel to their cars without paying. And sometimes, they asked me to send barrels of gasoline to their houses without paying pence. And I remember once how I asked an agent to pay for filling gasoline for his car but he threatened me and assured that my fate would be unknown if I asked for my dues again, he immediately got on his car and went on his way. However, I remained like this for over a month, and then I started thinking about leaving the town, not caring of what I might find if ISIS agents arrested me. I sold my shop to collect money needed to smuggle us, I made a deal with one of the smugglers whom I would pay 100 thousand Syrian pounds for getting all my family members and me out of the town. Indeed this is what happened, that we succeeded in reaching the boarders in Autonomous Administration areas, then to Ash Shadadi. "
Image shows a side from Markadah market, located south of al-Hasakeh, controlled by ISIS, Photo credit: activists from the town.
Third: Storming Houses in the Town almost weekly in order to Put Pressure on People and Get them out
It is one of ISIS’ ways to oppress people of Markadah town and force them to leave it. This matter confirmed by Siham Muhammad, a woman from the town who had to flee on July 25, 2017, and went to one of her relatives house in Ash Shadadi, Siham spoke to STJ about many raids that houses daily subjected to, and said:
"In the month before we flee from Markadah, we were subjected daily to the storming of our houses, especially those in "Dawar As Sinaa” area, because it is a strategic and favorite area for ISIS. Therefore, they come up storming our houses every day with new pretexts, either for searching for weapons, or looking for fugitives from the organization, and so forth. Anyway it was my misfortune that I lived in "Dawar As Sinaa" area which is preferred by ISIS agents because it is near two ISIS military centers."
Siham said that ISIS agents asked residents of “Dawar As Sinaa" area to sell their houses or hand them over to ISIS, and that they would compensate them with other houses in the outskirts of the town. However, the majority of people refused to do so, the matter that led ISIS agents to continue storming houses in that area, but this time with more brutality, which created a state of panic and fear among people, she continued:
"About a month later, my family and I decided to leave the town alongside other five families, so we made a deal with a smuggler, who asked for a large amount of money, especially when he learned that we were residents of "Dawar As Sinaa" area. However, to smuggle us, he asked for 250,000 SYP for each person, so we were eventually compelled to sell our house at a low price, 3 million SYP, as the rest of the families forced to do. And because we would not be able to sell it to one of the town residents, before obtaining an approval of Hisbah center inside the town, we were finally forced to sell it to ISIS agents, after they had brought a document authorized us to sell the house, through one of their acquaintances."
[1] Islamic State, also known as ISIS, emerged for the first time after the conflict onset in Syria in 2011, under the name of Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham. But in April 2013 it was promoted as a result of a merger between Islamic State of Iraq on the one hand and al-Nusra Front, on the other hand, before the latter refused to do so, and asked al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri the new organization to focus on Iraq, and leave Syria to al-Nusra Front at that time.
Prior this date, the organization was active in Iraq under the name of Jama’at al-Tawhid Wa’al Jihad" before becoming al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi became the leader in 2004 and announced pledging allegiance to the former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
After killing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi by US forces in 2006, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer became the leader, and declared after a few months formation of the Islamic State of Iraq but under the leadership of "Abi Omar al-Baghdadi" and "Abu Hamza al-Muhajer became an assistant of the leader of the organization.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, "Abdullah Ibrahim", the successor of Abi Omar al-Baghdadi had proclaimed, on June29, 2014, forming The Islamic Caliphate, called himself “Caliph of the Muslims", and assigned Raqqa, a Syrian city, the capital of the organization.
[2] Syrian Democratic Forces: also known as SDF forces, a coalition of Arab, Kurds, Syriac, Turkmen and other combatants, announced forming on October11, 2015. The People's Protection Units YPG form the backbone of SDF, consisting of 27 military factions (Special Task Brigade 45, 99 Infantry Brigade, Lewa al-Qaqaa, Kurds Front, Seljuk Brigade, Sultan Salim Brigade, Ein Jalot Brigade, Aleppo Ashaar forces, Tajamouh alweat al-Jazirah, brigade of al-Jazaa Martyrs ' Brigade,Tal Hammise Martyrs , Brigade Martyrs of Tal Brak ,Karhok Martyrs Brigade ,the Martyrs Brigade of Mabrouk and al-Hasakah Martyrs Brigade, Rawia Martyrs Brigade Tajamouh alweat alFurat, Tajamouh Al Furat Jarablus Brigade, Ahrar Jarablus Brigade, Euphrates Martyrs Brighade, al-Sad Martyr Battalion, al-Sanadid forces, Lewa alTahrir, the Syriac military junta, the North Sun Brigades, Jabhat Thwar Raqqa, People's Protection Units/YPG/ and women's Protection Units/YPJ/). It is mainly supported by the International Coalition leading the war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, led by United States of America.
[3] On January 24, 2012, Abu Muhammad al-Julani announced formation of what he called "al-Nusrah Front for al-Sham people" at the time, and the organization embraced Salafi and jihadism thoughts. The United States Government had included it on the lists of terrorist organizations in December 2012, and in April 2013, it pledged allegiance al-Qaeda organization, Ayman al-Zawahiri, parallel with his refusal to integrate with the "Islamic State of Iraq t that time". At the end of May 2013, the United Nations Security Council announced the inclusion of Nusra Front on the regulations of terrorist organizations, and a Committee of the Security Council stated that it was under resolution 1267 (1999) and resolution 1989 of 2011 special for Al-Qaida and its individuals and entities affiliated to it, it agreed on specific amendments in a regulation for al-Qaida in Iraq, as it added the name "Jabhat al-Nusra" or "al-Nusrah Front for the Ahl al-Sham". In April 2014, International Union of Muslim Scholars/i/IUMS/ criticized al-Nusra Front declaration of the international al-Qaeda network. On July 28, 2016, Abu Muhammad al-Julani announced the disengagement of the organization with al-Qaeda following a mandate from the latter, and changed the name of the organization to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
On January 28, 2017, several jihadist factions in northern Syria announced the merger under the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the factions that announced the dissolution itself and the merger under the new name is Jabhat Fateh al-sham, formerly Nusra Front, the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, Liwaa al-Haq and the Ansar al-Din Front and Jaish al-Sunna ) However, against the backdrop of the recent outbreak of confrontations between Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in north on July 15, 2017, Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement announced its separation from the Hayat on July 20, 2017.
[4] Office/Centre of calculation/Hisbah: It is one of the important centers in the structure of the Islamic State organization/ISIS/, as it handles the issue of "enjoin good and forbidden wrong" from the point of view of the organization, and by establishment of penalties and legal limits (which are directed for corporal punishment) such as penalties of adultery, slander, booze, theft, banditry, and iniquity/Baghi/. In addition, Hisbah Center handles financial matters, taxes, sales and purchases of real estate within the boundaries of ISIS control areas.