Vice and virtue police gain foothold in war-torn Syria

[rug]

Mona Alami / USA Today | May 17, 2013

BEIRUT (RNS) Radical Syrian opposition groups now in control of Aleppo and much of its surroundings are forming increasing numbers of religious police units to enforce a strict form of Islamic rule, such as banning alcohol sales and making prayer compulsory.

The actions of these groups, many of which are made up of foreign fighters, are gaining in reach in a country that has been largely secular and free of Islamic jihadist radicalism.

“Rebels have brutally imposed a conservative dress code for women and crushed any ( secular) opposition in these areas,” Syrian author Talal al-Atrache said.

Known as vice and virtue police, these squads are enforcing the edicts of courts put in place by rebels in the various Syrian regions where the Syrian government has been pushed out.

http://www.religionnews.com/2013/05/17/vice-and-virtue-police-gain-foothold-in-war-torn-syria/

[msongs]

1. "freedom fighters" nt

[Phillip McCleod]

2. religion poisons everything..

..can't have a rebellion from autocratic rule. Gotta impose a theocracy in its place.

[dimbear]

3. Our Syrian friends have strange priorities. Is it really the first thing a freed

people should do? By which I mean, immediately enslave themselves to another master.......

Our Syrian friends are hard to love.

[hrmjustin]

4. So much for wanting freedom!