Manbij: Niqabs burned and beards shaved as Syrian city liberated from Isis

Smoking: An elderly woman enjoys a cigarette. Smoking is banned under IS
Reuters
Robin de Peyer13 August 2016

Extraordinary pictures show men having their beards cut off and women burning niqabs after the Syrian city of Manbij was liberated from Islamic State.

A woman is shown smoking a cigarette in defiance of the toppled Islamist regime which had controlled the city in one of the images.

The stronghold, in northern Syria, fell to allied Arab and Kurdish fighters who freed more then 2,000 hostages in recent days.

Human rights groups said the hostages had been used as "human shields" by the terror group, whose fighters have been driven from the city, close to the Turkish border, in the past two months.

A woman sets fire to a niqab in Manbij
Reuters

Speaking to news agency Reuters, a resident of Manbij told of the place he had seen people beheaded by IS.

"For anything or using the excuse that he did not believe [in God], they put him and cut his head off," he said.

A woman lifts her veil after IS were toppled
Reuters

"It is all injustice."

Other residents were seen screaming with happiness after the regime was toppled, with one shouting: "I feel joy and [it is like a] dream I am dreaming.

"I cannot believe it, I cannot believe it. Things I saw no one saw."

Liberating: A man cuts off another man's beard in Manbij
Reuters

Thanking the US-backed fighters who liberated the city, another woman said: "You are our children, you are our heroes, you are the blood of our hearts, you are our eyes. Go out, Daesh [a reference to the Arabic name for IS]!"

IS has used humans as shields in an effort to deter air strikes.

Allied forces against IS began an assault on Manbij on May 31. More than 78,000 people there have been displaced from the city, which is considered strategically important due to its location on the supply route from the de facto capital of the so-called Islamic State, Raqqa, and the Turkish border.

More than 290,000 people have died in the conflict in Syria since March 2011.

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