Life under the Caliphate

Opponents to the regime have been ruthlessly executed, while playing music on a car stereo while driving can result in 10 lashes. 

Former soldiers and others with links to post-Saddam regime have been forced to sign 'repentance cards' where they pledge allegiance to the Caliphate. Failure to do so results in extreme measures.

For Sheikh Abdullah Ibrahim, he knew his wife Buthaina stood no chance once the Jihadis seized the village.

She was ordered by the fanatics to sign a 'repentance card'. 

But Sheikh Ibrahim admitted: 'She said she'd never stoop so low.' 

Sheikh Ibrahim said he tried to send his wife away to safety, but she soon returned to the village because she missed their three daughters and two sons. 

In October, ISIS surrounded their house and dragged his wife away. 

A few days later, Sheikh Ibrahim received a sheet of paper from an 'Islamic Court' pronouncing his wife's death. It was signed by an ISIS judge, but it did not contain any other information or where he body had been buried.

Others have been killed or maimed because they have been deemed insufficiently pious. 

ISIS was forced out of the village in January 2015 by Kurdish Peshmerga rebels.  

Some men have taken to covering themselves in cologne in order to cover the smell of cigarettes, which are outlawed in ISIS controlled areas. 

Special ISIS police patrol the area, sniffing people to see if they have had an illicit cigarette, while they inspect women to see if they are suitably covered in black with flat-soled shoes. 

Stores must close during prayer times and everyone outside must attend or face retribution. 

Under ISIS, people deemed disloyal regularly disappear and their deaths occasionally appear on the internet. 

One political activist called Adnan said: 'People hate them, but they've despaired, and they don't see anyone supporting them if they rise up.'

The 28-year-old Syrian national wants to remain anonymous to prevent attacks on his family who still live under ISIS control. He said: 'People feel that nobody is with them.'

(dailymail.co.uk)