Feature: Syrians under IS between terror brutality, accusatory fingers

For Syrians who have lived under the rule of the Islamic State (IS) group, there are two choices: either to endure the terror group's brutality, or flee to government-controlled areas, where suspicious eyes, accusatory fingers are all that greet them.

As the war on the IS has ramped up from several directions and areas recently, hundreds of Syrian families from the northern province of al-Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS, and other IS-controlled areas in eastern Syria, have started fleeing their homes to government-controlled areas as of last March.

Those families say they can no longer tolerate the practices and brutality of the IS and the life under their stiff, ultra-radial rule, in addition to the escalation of battles against the group, which makes living in their shadow impossible.

Families from al-Raqqa, the eastern Deir al-Zour province, and the countryside of Palmyra city in central Syria started fleeing their areas when the IS grip got loosened a bit as a result of the intensified battles.

With the help of smugglers, people fled through the deserts for days till they reached areas either in the countryside of the southern province of Swaida, or the area of Dumair, in the countryside of the capital Damascus.

When they have got closer to the government-controlled areas, they were stopped by checkpoints, and they were kept in the desert after taking all of their ID documents to run a security background check for fear of being involved with the IS.

Some of them stayed for months until the authority finish processing their documents.

Muna, a 50-year-old woman who fled the IS and now in Dumair desert, said that "We have fled the IS and we are with the government, some of us have even sons serving in the government army. we need a better treatment and faster processing of our documentations."

Muna's husband, Muhammad, said the people who have fled recently have taken advantage of the battles against the IS to flee their rule.

"We have fled our town in Deir al-Zour for over three months and we reached the Sukhneh town near Palmyra, where we got stuck by the IS in that town, but when the battles raged near Palmyra, we managed to flee by smugglers and we were left in the desert," he said.

"We cannot live with the IS anymore, we are fed up with the killings, and gruesome executions and irrational rules they impose on us day and night, we decided to go when we felt the time is right, because leaving their areas was nearly forbidden by them," he said.

Syrian journalist have started highlighting the issue lately, with the aim of delivering their voice to the authorities in Syria to find a quick solution to the thousands of stuck people.

On Saturday, local media said buses have started moving the displaced Syrians in Dumair to displacement centers in government controlled areas.

Aside from the government procedures, many inside government-controlled areas have lost their trust in those coming from under the IS rule.

Wissam, a 34-year-old photographer, said the government must thoroughly scrutinize those coming from al-Raqqa, adding that he fears some of them could be sleeper cells, which could foment chaos in government areas.

His concept is adopted by the vast majority of those who have maintained their livelihood under the government control.

They wonder what took the people five years to flee their areas, or why they didn't flee once the IS swept through.

Mayar, a student, said he knows that there are civilians coming and that they should receive proper treatment, but said he believes that those people could be infiltrated.

"True that the good goes in the guilt of the bad, and that's probably what it is happening now, but I think we cannot afford to allow people who have lived under the IS for several years to come and live among us like nothing happened. I would surely be unrelaxed," he said.

Others, like Samar, a housewife and a mother of two, said the people who come from IS-controlled areas must stay in displacement centers and be provided with all needed help, but without granting them full freedom to leave the centers, until the government and security apparatus get them thoroughly screened. Endit