ALEPPO, Syria, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- The Islamic State (IS) posted a video on YouTube Tuesday showing its militants scorching marijuana fields in Syria.

The clip shows a field in what is thought to be the captured town of Akhtarin. The militants, speaking in Arabic, disparaged the evils of drug use as they chopped down the plants before setting them on fire. The group said it found the farm after the owner fled to Turkey.


News blog Syria Deeply reported that Syrians have been growing fields of marijuana in an effort to establish an income in a country ravaged by civil war.

Part of the IS mission is to impose strict interpretation of Islamic law in the parts of Syria and Iraq controlled by the group. It has banned cigarettes, alcohol and drugs and has taken to threatening marijuana farmers.

On Tuesday, the United Nations accused the Islamic State of committing war crimes, including the ethnic cleansing of Christians, Yazidis and Turkmen.