Turkey-backed rebels in Syria put Daesh extremists through rehab

MAREA, Syria/BEIRUT — Shaven-headed former extremists filled a classroom in northern Syria as a Muslim cleric taught them a more moderate form of Islam than the version they had imposed in the Daesh extremist group’s self-proclaimed “caliphate”.

Their class was in a new rehabilitation centre for Daesh members set up in the town of Marea, north of Aleppo, in an area controlled by Syrian rebel groups backed by Turkey. 

The centre, set up in October, is meant to address a problem emerging across swathes of Syria and Iraq — how to handle thousands of people living there who joined Daesh as it enforced its brutal rule.

Daesh used public killings and torture to enforce its draconian religious code, sexually enslaved captive women and slaughtered prisoners of war and members of enemy tribes.

Its self-styled “caliphate” is now on the verge of defeat, having lost large tracts of its territory and most of its major towns and cities in both Syria and Iraq. 

Although some Daesh members came from abroad out of conviction, many others were local people who joined the group to protect themselves or earn money, according to an official at the centre.

There are 25 ex-members now at the centre where they take classes in religious doctrine and law. Psychological counseling is mandatory; some get individual sessions to help wean them off extremist ideology. The centre is funded by the director as well as small donations, and its staff are all volunteers.

Marea was besieged, but never captured, by Daesh. Last year, rebels backed by the Turkish army drove Daesh out of nearby areas. 

Judges in rebel-held areas have tried Daesh members who were captured or defected, and their sentences have included time at the centre, guarded by a security team. 

The centre evaluates former extremists each month and shares its views with local authorities, which base their release decisions on the centre’s recommendations. 

Informants

Dressed in long-sleeved orange shirts and black vests, the ex-extremists listened to lecturer Sheikh Mohammad Al Mahmoud, who asked them questions about Islamic rulings. No one answered.

“Why did you join Daesh and force Islam on people if you don’t even know these answers?” he asked.

Civilians across Syria and Iraq often reject former Daesh militants, holding them responsible for killing people from the area and destroying the towns and cities they entered.

But not all former Daesh members at the centre were armed insurgents, the centre’s lawyer said. 

“In the brutal administrative areas where Daesh was, the overwhelming majority [joined] to protect itself or to have the bare minimum to live,” Ibrahim Najjar said. Some people joined just to obtain a canister of cooking gas, he added. 

Daesh militants also tended to marry locals’ daughters, he said, initially targeting the daughters of influential families and in later years marrying daughters of small families, calling on family ties to recruit fathers and brothers as informants.

Heaven and freedom

In an interview with Reuters at the centre, former Daesh member Khalil Abdul-Ghafur spoke in formal Arabic — Daesh’s preferred version of the language — until the centre director reminded him to switch back to Syrian dialect. 

The 14-year-old from a village near Aleppo said he joined the extremist group after insurgents arrived. He took lessons in sharia (Islamic law) and trained to use both light and heavy weapons, before Daesh dispatched him to Al Bab, near Marea. 

He was wounded twice, both times returning to the militant ranks after he recovered. He only left Daesh when he found out rebels had detained his father over his membership
of the group.

Asked why he joined Daesh, Abdul-Ghafur was at first silent. “I don’t know what to tell you. They used to show us video clips,” he eventually said. “And they talk to us about heaven and freedom and all that.”

 He did not elaborate on life after Daesh, only saying the centre has good food, clothes and lessons. But he intends to go back to school when he is released, having not completed his education because his school was bombed.

Ersin Khizri, 22, left his home in Ukraine and travelled to Syria with his wife and baby daughter to join Daesh ranks, in which he fought in Iraq. He left the group in January because he found it unjust, he said, turning himself in to rebels in Syria.”It’s over: There is no more Daesh left,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. “I don’t know what the outside situation is like.”

 The men in the centre watch movies and play chess in their spare time, smoking the cigarettes that were banned under Daesh.

They are divided into three categories: those who did not commit crimes against civilians, those who did, and foreign members.

Housed in a former school, the centre holds ex-extremists from the Caucasus, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Tunisia, Iraq and other countries.

Hussein Naser, the centre’s director, said the men will stay there for no more than a year, mainly because it does not have the capabilities to hold them longer.

“The goals of the centre are to defeat the extremist ideology of the Daesh members that we have, ensuring their safety when they leave the centre and that they can live with civilians,” Naser said.