The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group is attempting to restrict the delivery of babies by caesarean, deeming the practice Western and “un-Islamic,” UK-based newspaper the Daily Mail reported on Friday.

Doctors working in ISIS-held territory in Syria have now been ordered to charge 15,000 Syrian pounds ($80) - around two months of an average Syrian salary - for the surgical birthing procedure.

Medical staff who flout this rule will be punished.

Caesareans are often performed when conventional childbirth would put the mother’s life at risk, while some mothers opt for the surgery to avoid labor pains.

An edict from the militants published in the northern Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor states that command is “in order to assist the believers from the sons of Islam who are working in the medical corps to support their brothers from the poor and others besides them from the Muslim populace, and with the desire to keep the course of medical work removed from arbitrary whim.”

In its attempts to provide public services to those living under its self-proclaimed caliphate, ISIS aims to recruit foreigners with medical expertise.

Earlier this week, nine British medical students travelled to Syria to allegedly work in ISIS-controlled hospitals.

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:47 - GMT 06:47