In December 2023, a young man was filmed while being flogged in a public square in al-Bab city, Aleppo\u2019s northern countryside. The flogging \u201csentence\u201d was carried out by fighters affiliated with the Liberation and Building Movement (LBM), which operates under the banner of the T\u00fcrkiye-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).<\/p>\n
Bringing to mind the practices of the Islamic State (IS), the\u00a0video<\/a>\u2014re-posted by local media after going viral on Facebook\u2014shows the victim restrained and pinned against a fence at al-Center Roundabout in downtown al-Bab by two men, and brutally hit with a plastic rod on his back by a third. The third man could also be heard saying, \u201cThis is the punishment for those who insult God\u201d. <\/strong><\/p>\n Witnesses and sources informed of the incident told Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) that the young man, who hails from al-Bukamal city in Deir ez-Zor\u2019s countryside, was punished without trial. This violation against the young man is one manifestation of the rampant lack of rule of law in the territories under the SNA\u2019s military control.<\/p>\n Notably, the SNA operates under the mantle of the Syrian Interim Government (SIG), an offshoot of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC). The SIG runs the region administratively, overseeing its legal and judicial affairs. However, the SNA-affiliated armed groups continue to infringe on the SIG\u2019s legal and judicial powers and the multiple rights they supposedly protect, including the residents\u2019 right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n In 2023, for instance, a commander of the SNA\u2019s 3rd<\/sup> Corps attempted to storm<\/a> A\u2019zaz Courthouse, assaulted a judge there, and kidnapped his toddler after the court granted his ex-wife custody of their little girl while preventing him from seeing the child for five consecutive months.<\/p>\n For this report, STJ interviewed two sources from al-Bab city, located in so-called Euphrates Shield strip. One is a media activist who narrated how the incident unfolded. The other is a Military Police officer who recounted how the de facto authorities handled the situation, highlighting that \u201caccountability\u201d processes in the region are often bound by the armed groups\u2019 regionalist loyalties and religious ideologies rather than the law.<\/p>\n Laith,[1]<\/sup><\/a> a media activist in al-Bab city, narrated that Ismail\u2014the young man subjected to flogging\u2014had a heated altercation with a young woman he loved during a TikTok livestream on 22 December 2023. The young woman expelled Ismail from the joint Live and blocked him. Ismail went into a frenzy and started to \u201cspew curses, reviling Islam and Muslims.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n An hour after the livestreaming, several gunmen from a sub-group within the Jayish al-Sharqiya\/Army of the East, an affiliate of the LBM, headed to Ismail\u2019s home, led by their commander, known by the name Maimati. The gunmen took Ismail from his house and brutally beat him all the way to al-Center Square, where they flogged him in front of passers-by.<\/p>\n Laith noted that the commander, Maimati, hails from al-Mayadin city in Deir ez-Zor\u2019s eastern countryside, adding that several of Ismail\u2019s family members are affiliated with the LBM. He stressed that the gunmen who flogged Ismail are deemed relatives and thus consider the problem a family matter. Therefore, they believe they are \u201centitled\u201d <\/strong>to punish him themselves to prevent outsiders \u201cfrom interfering in the [family affair] or attempting to bring him to court.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Half an hour after the flogging, Maimati\u2019s armed group handed over Ismail to the LBM. At the latter\u2019s security center, Ismail\u2019s head was shaved, and he was filmed again while interrogated. In the interrogation video,[2]<\/a> when asked why he said such insults, Ismail responds, \u201cI was not in my right mind\u201d.<\/strong> The cameraman can then be heard explaining that Ismail was now being held by the SNA\u2019s 1st<\/sup> Corps at the LBM\u2019s security center, threatening to \u201cmake [him] an example to all those who have no shame.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n After Ismail was flogged, people in al-Bab city circulated a sound recording by a resident called S. H. In the voice note, S. cursed Ismail and his family, demanding that Ismail be killed as the sentence he truly deserves for what he did.<\/p>\n Reacting to the insults in the recording, Laith said Maimati\u2019s group attacked S.\u2019s shop in al-Novouteh Street, fired their rifles, and demanded that S. \u201csurrender himself.\u201d During the attack on the shop, the situation spiraled out of control, threatening to thrust the city into a \u201cregionalist\u201d dispute. Laith added:<\/p>\n \u201cLocals from al-Bab city gathered [in front of the shop] to calm the situation and prevent it from developing into clashes. S. H. appeared before the people to ease the tensions and justify his actions. However, Maimati\u2019s group attacked and beat him. The situation escalated then, and the two sides\u2014al-Bab city residents on the one hand and people from Deir ez-Zor and al-Bukamal city on the other hand\u2014started to rally. The Military Police intervened to calm the two sides and ordered the assembling groups to disperse.\u201d<\/p>\n Laith added that after the commotion in front of S.\u2019s shop, a meeting was held at the Military Police headquarters, attended by dignitaries from al-Bab and Deir ez-Zor and relatives of S. and Maimati. The meeting ended after S. and al-Bab\u2019s delegation apologized to Deir ez-Zor\u2019s people for the abuse they suffered, and Ismail was handed over to the Civil Police to be tried for \u201cinsulting the Muslim nation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Abu Maher,[3]<\/a> an officer with the local Military Police, told STJ that al-Bab is home to a large number of internally displaced people (IDPs). They sought refuge in the city in mid-2018 after they fled Rif Dimashq (Damascus\u2019s Countryside), al-Qalamoun, Homs\u2019s countryside, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, and the suburbs of al-Bab city itself. Due to the mixed demographics, Abu Maher said that \u201ca state of regionalism\u201d<\/strong> has emerged in the city.<\/p>\n Elaborating on the regionalist trends in the city and how they influenced the population\u2019s reaction to the TikTok incident and ensuing flogging, Abu Maher said that the different IDP communities in the city, as well as locals, want to maintain their independence, govern their affairs autonomously, and aspire to \u201coverpower\u201d other communities. He added:<\/p>\n \u201cAl-Bab locals believe they are entitled to [rule the community] because they are indigenous\u00a0to the city and reject the practices of the people from other areas [IDPs], who seek autonomy in decision-making or self-governance. This remains the most critical issue. For instance, when the armed group raided [the house] of the young man who insulted God and flogged him right on the street, and later the other LBM armed group re-arrested him, shaved his head, and filmed him, al-Bab city\u2019s locals took to the streets and held the slogan\u00a0Babiyeh<\/em><\/a> (Al-Bab belongs to al-Bab). They meant that only al-Bab\u2019s people had the right to arrest and discipline the young man. [The protests] were organized after the man from al-Bab, [S.], offended the young man from al-Bukamal, who insulted God.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably, the \u201cregionalist sentiments\u201d that occasionally grip the city do not entirely originate from its mixed population and are often urged by the practices of the armed groups that came with the IDPs to the area. These armed groups tend to exploit the IDP communities they are affiliated with and use them in their disputes with other groups. Abu Maher said, \u201cWith every problem that arises, we struggle with regionalist divisions and factional alignments. People from the same region might even turn against each other based on their factional affiliations.\u201d<\/strong> He added:<\/p>\n \u201cS. H. is not merely a civilian who owns a shop in al-Bab city. He is in charge of the local people\u2019s committees of the SNA\u2019s al-Hamza\/al-Hamzat Division. He often stirs trouble on behalf of the al-Hamza\/al-Hamzat Division. He had attacked media workers and fighters from other factions and organized protests, also on behalf of the division. Therefore, he surely must have insulted the young man, Ismail, at direct orders from Seif Abu Baker, [the division\u2019s general commander], to spur a conflict with people from [Deir ez-Zor\u2019s eastern countryside and thus with Jaysh al-Sharqiya\/Army of the East].\u201d<\/p>\n In al-Bab city, the armed groups have established a monopoly over the role of the judiciary and continue to inflict punishment on \u201coffenders\u201d at their whims, showing no regard to the judiciary nor to its subsidiary institutions, including the military and civil police, which indeed played only minor roles in managing the TikTok crisis. Abu Maher emphasized this reality, adding that:<\/p>\n \u201cShould insulting God be a punishable crime, it then falls within the jurisdiction of the Civil Police. However, the Civil Police did not take action. Furthermore, when contacted to intervene, they said no party had filed an official complaint against the young man. Therefore, they did not consider themselves obliged to address the issue. Their reaction primarily stems from their fear of the armed groups.\u201d<\/p>\n Simultaneously, Abu Maher added, the Military Police only played the intermediary. It sought to reconcile the disputing parties and merely asked for handing the young man over to the Civil Police:<\/p>\n \u201cThe [Military Police] said the young man is not a militant, nor is there a military side involved in the case to consider it under its jurisdiction. They considered the case [a factional affair], and, thus, the concerned armed group is responsible for punishing people from the area where they come and has already intervened [to resolve the situation]. However, when locals from al-Bab took to the street with arms, enticed by the al-Hamza\/al-Hamzat Division and the Sultan Murad Division, [the Military Police] were forced to intervene and prevent the crisis from exploding. So, they asked the LBM to hand over the young man to the Civil Police in preparation for trial.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking about the \u201caccountability\u201d measures the young man was subjected to, Abu Maher said:<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, God is insulted dozens of times on the streets every day by civilians and militants, and this goes unnoticed, as there is no law that punishes this. However, [the LBM] reacted in such a way, arrested the young man, and humiliated him extensively because this incident happened on TikTok and because there is undeniable extremism within the LBM ranks\u2014a large segment of its members are Salafists and even could be considered as IS advocates.\u201d<\/p>\n Abu Maher emphasized that flogging as a punishment was a \u201ccalculated choice\u201d made by several LBM members, who are pressing for \u201cthe implementation of the Islamic Sharia rulings the way they were enforced by IS in Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and other areas it controlled.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\nHow the Incident Unfolded<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Unrest Follows in the City<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The Armed Groups Disrupt Civil Peace\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h4>\n
The Armed Groups Play the Judge<\/strong><\/h4>\n