Reports | 25 05 2020
Alaa no more wants to go to school in the countryside of Idlib, in spite of her love for studying, because Jabhat Nusra is dominating its laws in the region.
Alaa, the 14-year-old daughter, has taken a difficult decision, after the attack of Jabhat Nusra’s delegates in the school, where they entered the classroom, stopped the teacher from giving the lesson, and began to lecture on the Islamic hijab and its importance.
Alaa said: "I can’t forget that day when one of them attacked me and uncover my face-veil, grabbed my hair-tie then threw to the ground, saying aloud: Why do you put these temptations on your heads? It's eye-catching and forbidden."
Orders about the dress
Alaa does not approve to the orders of Jabhat Nusra, and she joined many of the girls who refused to put the veil in school after the delegates issued a statement confirming the need of wearing women and girls the legitimate dress in Jabhat Nusra’s strongholds.
The statement, which was issued early in 2016, includes sanctions for the families of the girls, by paying fines. And Jabhat Nusra employed women affiliated with it, to monitor the compliance to its decisions in the schools of Idleb countryside.
At first, girls did not pay attention of these commands, as they did not change the way they wear, but delegates of Jabhat Nusra were attending the school of Alaa in Maarrat al-Nu'man almost daily, to see the girls’ response, and then they switched from the status of request to the accent of order.
Attack and assault!
The girls exposed to harmful and embarrassing attitudes by the delegates, by forcing them to wear the Islamic dress.
Naila 15 years, exposed to embarrassment in front of her classmates and her teachers when one of the delegates scolded her because of wearing a colored clothing.
"I do not imagine myself wearing the way they want me to wear, a long black cloak and black veil," said Naila. Adding that these clothes only for old women in her community, not for young girls, and for this reason Naila no longer goes to school.
Who are the delegates of Al-Nusra Front?
The delegates of Nusra, the arm of al Qaeda in Syria, are a spread over the villages of Idlib countryside groups, each group of five women, they go to the schools between now and then "to preach and counsel" as they called it.
Umm Mohammed, 38 years old, one of the delegates, said: "our relationship with Nusra Front is that we are that we are the wives of the Jihadists, and we are doing our religious duty which is educating girls and women about the Islamic dress, and we don’t get any salary for this work, but it is a voluntary work supported by the al-Nusra Front."
Umm Mohammed pointed to the importance of their work as required by the "public interest", especially since the increase in the cases of kidnapping and rape, as a result of insecurity and overlapping communities together because of displacement, "That's the best solution for this, that every girl should keep herself by wearing the Islamic clothes" said Um Mohammed.
Strong powers
It seems that the delegates of al-Nasra Front possess strong powers, where they enter schools and use the order style in speech.
Suha, a teacher in Idleb countryside, confirm that the way of talking used by the delegates is in order style, suggesting that they enjoy having the authority, and they were employees not volunteers. Explaining: "the evidence of their power was clear when Nusra Front sent warnings to a number of parents whose daughters did not respond to the orders of the delegates."
Abu Ayman, a resident of Idlib, confirms Soha words, saying: "I received a warning note of the need to wear the Islamic dress by my daughters, otherwise I will be forced to pay a fine of 25 thousand Syrian pounds."
After that, Abu Ayman asked his daughters to wear the Islamic dress, in order to avoid problems, unlike Abu Amer, who did not care for the threats of Jabhat Nusra.
Abu Amer said: "We have our way of dressing and our habits, and are committed to it, and will not change it for anyone."
Abu Amer attitude was similar to many attitudes, who criticized these methods, before the protest of people on this decision, especially after launching demonstrations against Jabhat Nusra in Maaret Numan last March, after its fighting with with the band 13 (FSA), where “al-Nusra” had suspended the implementation of sanctions on this subject recently, in order to stop everything that would increase the protests against it.
* This report was accomplished with the help of the Resource Center.