🇸🇾 فتانة

Hani Dahab, an Egyptian known as #Sheikh_AlDhahabi, was arrested in Egypt over alleged ties to extremism and jihadist groups. After 2012 he moved to Syria, exploiting the war and chaos, and associated with jihadist organizations. He now leads hardline campaigns to impose the niqab and so-called #Sharia_Compliant_Dress on women and girls. In under two years, Syrian women have increasingly adopted a form of dress once rare in major cities, where unofficial estimates put its prevalence below 5%. Syrian women were never forced not to wear the niqab. Even under the former regime; falsely portrayed by extremists as banning prayer and the niqab; there was no general public ban. In 2010 roughly 1,200 niqab-wearing teachers were transferred from education to other ministries, and the niqab was banned in universities, measures justified on educational and security grounds under the state of emergency…Those precautions are now absent. This is not a reaction to previously denied religious freedom. Women already wore the niqab; there was no blanket ban. Those who wanted it could wear it; others were under no obligation. What changed is the rise of jihadists to power and an organized campaign to reshape society through inducement, intimidation, indoctrination, and manipulation, turning personal choice into social pressure on women and girls. The issue is not the niqab itself, but who leads the campaigns, their ideology, and authorities that permit and actively support the project’s penetration of society and institutions. These are the results of placing jihadists in power. They wear tailored suits, speak of moderation and freedom to diplomats, and pose as reformed statesmen while reshaping Syrian society according to the same ideology they once embraced. What is occurring inside Syrian society reveals their true project more clearly than any diplomatic speech.