Residents in the northern Syrian town of Manbij have been celebrating new freedoms after being liberated from the rule of so-called Islamic State.

They have poured into the streets enjoying basic rights they had been denied for two years, including shaving off their beards and smoking.

US-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters fought 73 days to drive IS out of Manbij, close to the Turkish border.

About 2,000 civilians being used as human shields were also freed.

Life under IS

Women are forced to cover up; in one case, a woman in Mosul, Iraq, was challenged for not having her hands fully covered

The minimum punishment is flogging, which is applied for things like smoking a cigarette. Men caught smoking have had their fingers amputated, while a female dentist who treated men was publicly beheaded, the UN said in a report in 2014

Men are not allowed to be clean-shaven

Prayer checks are carried out on the streets

Men are ordered to attend compulsory Sharia classes if their trousers are too long