"Death By The Sword"
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria distributed leaflets to Christian leaders in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul this week, threatening violence if they don't convert.
Christians who do not accept Islam or fail to pay extra taxes to the Islamic Sharia courts, the letters warned, will face "death by the sword." Christians who do not agree to ISIS demands were also given the option to leave Mosul. According to a message from ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, non-complying Christians were permitted to "evacuate themselves only from the caliphate state" by 12 p.m. local time on Saturday or their "only option is the sword," reports United Press International.. The warning comes as ISIS has reportedly withdrawn from parts of Mosul, replaced by another Sunni militant group, the Naqshbandi Army (also referred to as JRTN). Mosul governor Atheel Nujaifi told the Guardian that the ISIS "strike force" had relocated from the city to fight Iraqi armed forces in Tikrit. JRTN, he said, now controls the eastern half of Mosul. There is some speculation that JRTN, led by Saddam Hussein-era Baathists, formed an alliance with ISIS that enabled the Sunni militant lightning offensive in June to seize control of key Iraqi cities.
Gradually, however, Isis began imposing its own Salafist rules – pulling down municipal statues of Mosul singer Mala Osman and poet Abu Tamam. Fighters asked shops not to stock western-style women's clothes. They told female public-sector employees – doctors, teachers, nurses – to stay at home.
According to residents, Isis promised to give male street cleaners and other workers 30% of their salaries to keep essential services going – but failed to pay anything.
One resident said most Isis fighters had vanished late last week. They were now largely invisible, with only a few low-key checkpoints inside the city. "They left their houses. You only see them now in on patrol at night, a couple of cars. Before in the same neighbourhoods I saw hundreds of fighters celebrating their victory," the resident said.
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