BEIRUT — The Daesh terror group is banning private Internet access in its Syrian bastion Raqqa, forcing residents and even its own fighters to use Internet cafés where they can be monitored, activists say.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently both reported the new restrictions on Internet access.

The activist group posted online a picture of a leaflet being distributed in the city warning Internet providers they had four days to cut private wifi connections.

“The following is obligatory on all Internet providers: the removal of WiFi connections distributed outside of internet cafés and private connections, including for Islamic State [Daesh] soldiers.”

The document says providers have four days from Sunday to comply with the order.

The activist group said the ban was intended to ensure “access through Internet cafés only in order to monitor access”.

The ban will affect not only activist groups like Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, which documents Daesh abuses in the city, but also potential defectors from within the group, the observatory said.

“This step is part of the organisation’s attempt to impose a news blackout on what is going on inside Raqa city,” the Britain-based group said.

“It has been conducting patrols and raids on internet cafes, searching them for people who are transmitting news.”

Daesh is also “trying to cut communications between its non-Syrian fighters and their families for fear of them trying to return home”, it added.

Raqa, in the Euphrates Valley northeast of Damascus, is the de facto Syrian capital of Daesh, which controls large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, where it rules with an iron fist.

 

The Internet has been a rare lifeline for activists in the city, and a way for them to document life under jihadist rule.