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Islamist-Held Town a Bellwether for Syria's Rebellion
(World Politics Review) Balint Szlanko - In the provincial capital of Raqqa in eastern Syria, a black flag bearing a verse from the Quran flies over the main square - a flag often associated with Sunni Islamist extremists. Raqqa is the first provincial capital to be fully controlled by rebel groups, all of them Islamist: Ahrar al-Sham, Jabhat al-Wahda al-Tahrir al-Islamiya, and Jabhat al-Nusra. On April 6, rebel fighters arrested two young women for not wearing the all-covering hijab and for being unsupervised in the company of a young man. The three were brought before the Shariah court, but were released. Nevertheless, the affair prompted a demonstration the following day, with hundreds turning out, forcing the court to close.