The story of K. resembles that of many Syrians who have taken up arms, even with the most radical groups, only to be disillusioned and disappointed. But not all have had the same ending. Indeed, for many Islamist fighters, Sharia means much more than law and order. M. is also 28 and joined another unit I accompanied for some time in early 2014. Before the uprising, he explains, he was a handyman at a five-star hotel.
"On May 8 [when the Carlton Hotel was bombed] I was celebrating. For all my life, I've been a servant to scum who earned lots of money just through kinship, friendship, bribes. That was Syria. My mother died from a cancer that we couldn't afford to treat. … And those guys were living in luxury without ever working," he says. His war is different from K.'s. "Assad is only a fragment of the problem. That's why I joined ISIS. We want a different society. A society where you don't waste on wine and whores the resources you need to treat the sick."
In the areas under its rule, ISIS has been denounced by Syrians as a new regime that shows no tolerance and no mercy for dissidents and minorities. Its strict interpretation of Islam revives corporal punishment. Its violence is so brutal that even al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri disowned the group. But M. rejects these accusations.
"You look only at the executions. But every war has its executions, its traitors, its spies. We set up soup kitchens, we rebuilt schools, hospitals, we restored water and electricity, we paid for food and fuel. While the UN wasn't even able to deliver humanitarian aid, we were vaccinating children against polio. It's just that some actions are more visible than others. For every thief we punish, you punish a hundred children with your indifference."
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