Reporting by Mohamed Al Faris; Writing to Zaman English by Dani Murad

(Zaman Al Wasl)- In just a year, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) has set up an efficient government in Eastern Syria, and since then so many stories have surfaced of the brutality of this jihadist group and its crimes, yet other reports have shown other points of view.

Ahmad, from a village in Deir Ezzor, expressed to Zaman al-Wasl his admiration of what the "Islamic state" has done in the areas under its control, such as forming legal bodies, committees and directorates in various fields.

According to Ahmad, the organization has formed the system of “Assas” or “the night watchmen” to monitor and protect individuals in public places and markets, in addition to building police stations to solve problems among people using legal papers, which later are refereed to the courts to resolve disputes between them.

Moreover, a media activist from Deir Ezzor commented on ISIS’s practices there, saying: "It is interesting how the crimes of robbery and murder are now non-existent anymore, and inter-clan conflicts have almost disappeared, and all of that is the result of using “Assas” and IS agents who are deployed among people in large numbers.

The activist also pointed out that the State has organized patrols or “Hisbah” to monitor markets and prices and forbid people from “the blameworthy deeds according to its members” like prohibiting men from wearing jeans, imposing a strict dress code on women, and forbid them from showing any part of their bodies, except their eyes, and these Sharia rules are imposed on everyone to comply by, without exception.

In this regard, Mervat, from “Al Bab” city, says: “ I was not used to wearing baggy abaya, but when I reached my city in east of Aleppo, one of “ Hisbah “ members stopped me and asked me to go to the Grand mosque in the city to get the Islamic dress, which I got for $ 3 thousand Syrian pounds.

In addition to that, she also pointed out that when the jihadist militants find a man with his wife, and her dress is showing anything of her body, they ask the man to dress his wife the “legitimate dress”, and consider the first time as a warning, but if this incident is repeated, he will be put in prison or ordered to memorize verses from Quran.

According to a source close to the organization in Deir Ezzor, it seems that the villages under IS control are self-managed by its people who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, and therefore there are no police stations, or Hisbah religious police to monitor people, probably because of lack of man power.

In Manbej east of Aleppo, a young man describes how the organization has given patients who have cancer or Communicable diseases, grants to purchase medicine, and also sent a number of them to the Mosul hospital, which is one of the most important hospitals in the middle east for cancer treatment.

The State has administratively and functionally organized hospitals there, bringing doctors from various countries to treat their patients; in addition to being so keen on cleanliness and sterilization of medical equipment, And according to a local source in Raqqa.

The source also told Zaman al-Wasl his personal experience when he went to Al Raqqa hospital, and was treated by an American doctor, and to his surprise most of the doctors there were foreigners, including British and Pakistani, pointing out that the organization has encouraged doctors to come to these areas by luring them with large salaries that exceed 2000 dollars and encouraging the immigrants by giving them houses to stay in Raqqa.

An activist in the city of Deir Ezzor, described how electricity improved in the city, and families who had no access to it and were living in total darkness, after the Islamic state seized the area, electricity came back on for at least 10 hours a day.

And not only electricity has improved ,because IS has also dragged water to the villages that were deprived of it for years, especially in the Eastern countryside of city "Alquria” , and also repaired water channels which were deactivated since the beginning of the revolution, according to activist.

In regard to the opponents of IS and its project, a media activist close to the organization refused to talk about the executions performed by the State that were based on IDs, because whoever fights the state is punished and should repent in front of a committee of “immigrants”, formed for this purpose, and if he doesn’t repent, he will be killed as a punishment, according to activist.

However, not all factions of Deir Ezzor have sworn allegiance to the state, and a large number of them have only pledged a “special allegiance of war” with the organization, after concluding an agreement with it to expel the regime from the city.

And supporters of the "State" believe that the horrifying image portrayed in people’s mind about the state, has made some fabricate strange stories about it, except that enemies of "IS" recognize its good management in the areas it controls, amid the dispersion of its enemies “the rebels”, who until now unable to implement any strategy to cope with the extended influence of the organization, which mobilized the world to strike it these days.