If there’s one thing ISIS excels at (besides death and mayhem) it’s wearing out their welcome with the locals. They did the same thing in Iraq and they were eventually turned on.

BEIRUT (AFP) – The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham has banned music and smoking in Syria’s Raqqa, days after taking control of the northern city following battles with rebel groups.

ISIS said it had decided to “ban the sale of music CDs, music players, and playing songs in cars and buses and in shops and all places,” in a statement posted on jihadist websites and signed the “Wali [governor] of Raqqa.”

The group added they had taken the step because musical instruments and singing are “proscribed in Islam because they distract from remembering God and the Koran.”

In a second statement, ISIS said that as part of efforts to “apply sharia [Islamic] law… it is completely forbidden to sell cigarettes or water pipes in any place.”

Such bans are reminiscent of those the Taliban imposed on television, cinema and music in Afghanistan when in power up until 2001.

ISIS has alienated activists and other opposition fighters in Syria, who accuse it of imposing a reign of terror on areas where it operates.