Matt Brown reported this story on Thursday, November 26, 2015 08:15:06

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: In dozens of towns in north-east Syria locals are emerging from more than a year of rule by the Islamic State group.



The extremists have been pushed out by a three week assault by Kurdish and allied Arab militias dubbed the Syrian Democratic Forces.



Their enforced puritanical version of Islam has left behind a legacy of tyranny and brutality.



Middle East correspondent Matt Brown reports from Hasakah in north-east Syria.



(Sound of gunfire)



MATT BROWN: As a small drone, an unmanned spy plane, flies overhead, the Kurdish militia on the front line opens fire. The Islamic State group is just a few kilometres away



The Americans are also using drones but this one seems too low and it's headed straight for the Kurdish provincial capital of Hasakah.



No one hits it and it returns on exactly the same track half an hour later, headed for an Islamic State stronghold a little further south.



The Kurds' Western allies may control the air but they're not the only ones with eyes in the sky.



(Sound of motorbikes)



At a little village further along the front line the locals are emerging from more than a year of life under Islamic State rule



Boiler maker, Saleh, says it's an enormous relief.



"We are very happy. You can go to the main street and see the people," he says.



A bystander interjects, "It's like the Eid festival".



Saleh says Islamic State enforced its rule with trademark brutality.



"They detained two people in the street and shot them dead in public," he says. "They were accused of being members of a more moderate militia."



The extremists also insisted all locals attend daily prayers.



Saleh says "when it came time to pray every day, if you didn't go to the mosque they would come to punish you and flog you".



At the centre of the nearby town a set of metal steps, with a frame up the back stands outside the local school.



This is where victims of IS executions were put on display.



"I saw one dead guy hung up there," Saleh says. "He was wearing military clothes and they put a boot on his head."



For wedding singer Aboud Mohammed Khadr, the ordeal at the hands of extremists began much earlier.



Before Islamic State, the al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra controlled the town.



"Jabhat al-Nusra captured me at a wedding where I was singing in the main town" he says. "They took me to jail and beat me with a plastic pipe and they confiscated all my musical equipment."



Aboud Mohammed Khadr promptly gave up singing but when Islamic State came to town they detained him anyway.



"They held me captive for three days and told me my punishment was to be beheaded," he says.



"Luckily I was able to escape and I walked all night to Hasakah.



The people of this town are still terrified Islamic State will return.



Worse still, some locals cooperated with the extremists, and they are now neighbours regarded with deep suspicion



This is Matt Brown in Hasakah for AM.