Syrian rebels tackle local government "It's not serious," admits Kheireddine al-Ahmad, the head of the newly formed local council. It's just meant to deter people. The chief of the village police sitting next to him, a fighter loyal to the local commander, chuckles as he nods in agreement. As the central Syrian government has pulled back from areas under rebel control after two years of conflict, necessity has forced rebel fighting brigades to take on the task of governing in the towns and villages across the poppy-dusted farmlands of the rural north. To do so, they have created local authorities that are far from perfect entities. Many are unelected and are entangled in the power dynamics of local armed groups. They are also acutely short of resources and in many cases trying to get basic services such as water and electricity up and running while still under regime bombardment from the skies. In many corners of this region, along the border with Turkey, people are constantly on the move. Towns that bear the brunt of the bombings are emptied. Safer areas are overpopulated by the influx of the displaced. Nonetheless, the local councils are what free areas of Syria are now developing, and they are the most likely conduits for the assistance the world community is promising. Given the reluctance to support the Syrian opposition with lethal aid, Western governments are pledging to help strengthen emerging local government structures. The Syrian Opposition Coalition, the main opposition group recognized by Western and Arab states, says it has channeled tens of millions of dollars through local councils for humanitarian aid, though councils complain they have yet to see any significant sign of this largess. On his desk in the village of Babassalemeh, Kheireddine al-Ahmad has two flags on display, the flag of the Syrian revolution and the black banner of hard-line Islamists. He is, in effect, prepared to please both Western donors and Islamic charities, some of which have been providing aid since rebels took over last summer. Ahmad's council was appointed by local families and with the consent of the main brigade in charge of the area, and seems to have evolved largely to free up fighters. "We don't want to have responsibility for water, electricity, the bakeries; people came to us for everything," said the head of police, another member of the al-Ahmad family. Nearby in the town of Azaz, the dilemma of accountability is on full display. In the eerily empty, rubble-strewn streets of the town, graffiti denounce the members of the local council as "thieves of bread." One member, Sheikh Walid, says that people misunderstood a decision to ration bread during recent flour shortages. As in other opposition-held areas, a court has been set up. It is run on Islamic principles, with the help of religious scholars.