Militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS or ISIL) have taken over vast swaths of land in Iraq and Syria, brutally murdered soldiers and journalists, and issued waves of propaganda to recruit new followers, and it's pretty clear they are a dangerous terrorist group.
But ISIS has been administering an "Islamic State," and a photo of a traffic ticket from Syria shows how far the new petrostate has come.
On Thursday, Dubai-based reporter Jenan Moussa tweeted an image from Raqqa, the Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria, showing what a ticket actually looks like. Moussa is a correspondent with Al Aan TV who has covered the conflict in Syria among other major events in the Middle East for more than two years.
She also recently broke a huge story on ISIS for Foreign Policy.
The ISIS traffic fine in #Raqqa was issued to a fellow ISIS member. Name of fine receiver: 'The Sword Chopper from Bahrain'. Car: Kia #pt
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 4, 2014
Mike Wailes, a former cryptologic language analyst for the U.S. Navy, helped Business Insider with the translation:
Here it is, from the top:
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (Syria)
State of Alruka
Islamic Services Authority - Islamic Police
Traffic Department
The date and traffic number are to the left
Then below is what is filled out for the citation:
Moving Violation
Name of violator: Al Natar AlBahraini
Vehicle Number: Country/nation (Our source was unsure what this meant)
Type of Vehicle: Kia
Type of Violation: Attention to (possibly reversing)
Governor of Violator: Saif Abu Nur
The ticket doesn't come as a total surprise. A recent documentary shot by Vice News in Raqqa showed how the militant group had established Sharia courts, a police force, and many other agencies one would find in any other state or country.