Lei Taha, a lawyer, was arrested in December last year for attempting to smuggle some of his clients into the country from Iraq. Police said he was suspected of planning to kidnap a group of people and ransom them. He is currently awaiting a trial.

“The way I see it, if they had not arrested him, he would not be here right now,” says Mr Farghadani.

But he believes the authorities don’t fully understand the problem facing them.

Image caption The authorities haven’t been able to stem the influx of fighters to Iraq from neighboring Syria

‘Sophisticated operation’

Some in the local community do see the threat from Islamic State as more of a looming threat in addition to the threat posed by other groups inside Syria.

“There are more and more extremist groups, including those in Iraq,” Mr Farghadani says.

Image caption Local leaders say their community faces an increasing threat from the Islamic State

“They are more aggressive and more successful. With a group like them, I worry about the future of Syria.”

The growing threat of radical elements, he says, is seen by many people there as a more immediate threat.

“The government can’t deal with it. It can’t do anything about it because it is going on inside Syria. It’s not an internal problem. It’s something that the Syrian government is not going to be able get rid of.

“The government may be dealing with the Islamic State in Iraq, but if they want to solve this problem, they are going to have to solve it inside Syria and this is where they have been unsuccessful with this.”

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