Recent actions taken by Tahrir al-Sham in the northern Syria province of Idlib, which is largely under its control, have met with contempt from local residents, an activist in the area told Diyaruna.

Residents have heaped scorn on the extremist alliance for confiscating hookahs from the city of al-Dana and keeping them intact -- not destroying them as is generally the case when they are seized for "religious reasons".

It turns out the reason they were not smashed is that the Tahrir al-Sham element in charge of confiscating them has been reselling them "at exorbitant prices", activist Haisam al-Idlibi told Diyaruna.

A Tahrir al-Sham patrol, accompanied by elements of Sawaid al-Khair, the group's "religious police", raided shops that sell hookahs in the city and confiscated their merchandise, al-Idlibi said.

Residents who gathered at the scene during the raid noted that the hookahs were carried away carefully, to make sure they did not break, sparking a wave of public derision over the hypocrisy of the move.

"It later became known that the Tahrir al-Sham element in charge of the patrol was reselling the confiscated merchandise to some merchants at exorbitant prices, in exchange for a promise they would not be bothered by the alliance's future patrols," al-Idlibi said.

Theft is prevalent

In a separate incident, Tahrir al-Sham elements looted the contents of the Free Aleppo University's faculty of informatics engineering, which is based in al-Dana.

Eyewitnesses said Tahrir al-Sham elements carried 15 computers and some electronic tools to a Tahrir al-Sham van.

Theft is prevalent in northern Syria, as is the imposition of tributes and kidnapping for ransom, al-Idlibi noted.

These crimes have been in increased evidence since the alliance saw its revenues decline and the salaries of its elements fell, he added.

"Solar panels used for lighting in the city of Saraqeb were openly stolen by Tahrir al-Sham elements without anyone daring to object," he noted.

Tensions also are running high in Saraqeb, he said, after elements of the alliance, accompanied by elements of Sawaid al-Khair and the al-Qaeda affiliated Hurras al-Din, destroyed gravestones in the city’s cemetery over Eid al-Fitr, according to some local residents.

This violation was committed under the pretext that the tombstones were in violation of sharia and must be leveled, he said, as the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) has done in some areas that were under its control.

Residents tried to dissuade them from doing this, al-Idlibi said, but were deterred by threats of detention and flogging.