photo: NBC news
As Syria becomes fractured under the push of the opposing rebel factions, some areas near Aleppo and others that are under the termporary rule of Al Nusra rebels are seeing instances of sharia law being enforced, even at a time when there is no established government by the rebels of Syria itself.
Witnesses are now declaring that sharia law and punishments are being meted on locals by a Sharia Authority in Aleppo.
This is one of the dangers of the Syrian civil wars, that having begun as a push for democracy and the removal of a hated despot, that it is now in peril from contrasting opposition groups, who are wishing to carve out areas in the Syrian territories, to enforce different rules in different areas.
Syria is then at risk of splintering, even if the civil war comes to an end. One area could become prominently shia or sunni, another a theocratic province-state. This could unravel whatever stability there is in this corner of the middle east.
The sharia authority are already injecting themselves in matters of divorce, marriage and civil disputes in the areas outside the regime's control.
The groups that have implemented the authority operate in a war scarred hospital in Aleppo and claim that they have been requested to impliment such laws by the citizens, who have come to trust their honest war efforts. In truth, order is needed in an area that has become lawless, but what will it become when the civil war is over?
But the apparent takeover of the judicial vacuum in the war torn areas does not sit well with secular activits in the area, who see their tradition usurped and the sharia authority an attempt to grab power and territory by extreme Islamists. Some, who protest the rigidity of the Islamists, are already finding themselves in detention, even if it is for a short time.
However, what worries some people is the fact that groups such as Al Nusra have already proclaimed that free elections are against Islam, and most of the rebel group leaders now refuse to discuss the issue of free elections when the civil war is over.
Most citizens at this time, are allowing these rebel groups to go on with their activities, even if they are dissenting, because they deem the removal of Al Assad a more important goal than voicing their differences. It is an enemy they have in common after all.
Most people in the neighboring states, however, fear that Syria post civil war might remain a battleground because of the different ideologies and aims of the opposing rebel factions.
partial source: Washpost 3.20.13
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