Precis

It was love at first sight – Azad, 26. My dreams are coming true! – Bercem, 19

Lovestruck couple Azad and Bercem are about to get married. They want the usual things - kids, a nice house, a car. They’re just hoping war doesn’t get in the way.

Azad and Bercem live in the town of Kobanî in north eastern Syria, smack bang in the former territory of Islamic State.  Their dream of a normal, peaceful life is shared by millions of fellow Kurds who now lead control of this area and are carving out a bold new system – a direct, secular democracy that enshrines gender equality.

For Azad and Bercem, that means getting married in a civil ceremony, no sheikh required.

We are building democracy, building a life we’d never dreamed of. – Azad

In the drably named Autonomous Administration of North Eastern Syria, women hold 50 percent of official positions.  Incredibly, Raqqa, the once notorious capital of Islamic State, is now headed by a young woman, Leila Mustapha. The bomber jacket-clad Mustapha is using her civil engineering skills to rebuild the city which will include a makeover of the square where IS displayed crucified and decapitated bodies.

The locals called it ‘Hell Roundabout’ because of all the brutal acts committed here. – Leila Mustapha

As she tours Raqqa with reporter Yaara Bou Melhem, she does what would have been unthinkable under ISIS: she shakes hands with men on a worksite.

But ISIS isn’t wholly gone. It clings to a tiny pocket of territory south of Raqqa, moving among civilians as protection from attack, as Yaara Bou Melham discovers on a trip to the frontline.

The Kurdish-led authority has some 900 ISIS foreign fighters in jail and it wants their home countries to take them back. One prisoner tells Bou Melhem how ISIS pushed its fighters:

If you’re not going to fight, you’re not going to eat. People, kids, died from starvation. – Prisoner

ISIS is now the least of the administration’s problems. To the west they must deal with Syria’s Assad regime and to the north, the biggest worry, Turkey, which has sworn to smash the Kurds when Donald Trump pulls out American troops.

Soldier Azad and journalist Bercem know a Turkish invasion could wreck their new life together. They will do what they know best.

If necessary, he will go to war. – Bercem

She will report the situation and expose it to the world. – Azad

Episode teaser. GFX: Foreign Correspondent

00:00

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Tonight, on the frontline in Syria.

00:06

“How far away is the ISIS position?... Just about 100 metres?”

00:09

The end of ISIS.

00:14

“It’s just motorcycles going past”.

00:16

Peace is tantalisingly close, but when it comes, can it last?

00:18

GFX: foreign correspondent

Music

00:33

Qamishli skyline

00:37

Yaara walking through market GFX:  Reporter Yaara Bou Melhem

00:47

Drone shot. Market alleyway. GFX:  The Oasis

00:51

Market GVs

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Something surprising is happening in Syria.  From the chaos of war, an oasis of democracy has emerged, where women enjoy equal rights and all religions are tolerated.  It’s bringing stability to an area once dominated by ISIS.

01:00

Yaara at stall selling dates

YAARA BOU MELHEM:  “Where are these dates from?”

STALLHOLDER: “They’re from Iran”.

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “Is this the tastiest one?”

STALLHOLDER: “Would you like the box?”

01:27

Yaara purchases dates

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Amid the hustle and bustle of the Qamishli markets, you could easily forget that conflict still stings this part of the world… almost.

01:39

Market stall selling bullets

“Where are these from?”

STALLHOLDER: “Different places”.

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “How much are the 9mm pistol cartridges?”

STALL HOLDER: “We don’t sell them to civilians”.

01:50

Teashop activity /Men play cards

Music

02:03

YAARA BOU MELHEM: It’s a fragile system led by the Syrian Kurds. 

02:15

GFX: Map ISIS/Assad Regime/Turkey

But it’s under siege from ISIS in the south, the Syrian Assad regime to the west and Turkey to the north. 

02:19

Men playing cards

And now, they’ve lost their trump card.  The Americans are withdrawing troops, a vital support that’s let the burgeoning democracy take hold. 

02:36

Music

02:47

Young men playing cards

YAARA BOU MELHEM: But young people here are betting on a brighter future.

02:50

Yaara into Kobanî bar to meet Bercem and Azad

Music

02:56

Yaara  greets Bercem and Azad

YAARA BOU MELHEM: In a local hangout in the town of Kobanî, I meet a young couple in love, Bercem and Azad. Azad Ahmed is a 26-year-old YPG fighter, a part of the Kurdish military force that operates in this region.  He helped liberate Kobanî from ISIS four years ago.

03:03

Azad interview in bar

AZAD AHMED: “They defeated Syria and Iraq but our forces, the YPG, stood up to them.  The will of the Kurds and the people of Kobanî was strong enough”.

03:25

Bercem

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Bercem Abd Al Kader is a 19-year-old journalist.

03:38

Bercem interview in bar

BERCEM ABD AL KADER: “Getting to where we are now took a lot of sacrifice and effort. Anything that is going to affect our lives worries us of course. But we’re not the first or the last people who are in love whose lives could be destroyed”.

03:42

Bercem and Azad in bar/Bar GVs

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Bercem and Azad have been together for more than two years and in typical fashion for a young soldier and journalist, their first meeting was infused with the politics of the region.

04:01

AZAD AHMED: “I was at work and I came back to Kobanî

04:14

and I saw her for the first time at a demonstration”.

BERCEM ABD AL KADER: “On 48^th street”.

AZAD AHMED: “Yes, on 48^th street. 

04:20

So we met there, and before that through social media. When we saw each other it was… love at first sight”.

04:27

Azad into barber's

Music

04:41

Bercem into hairdresser's

YAARA BOU MELHEM: The couple are about to get married.

04:49

Azad at barber's

“Azad it’s the big day today, how are you feeling?”

04:56

AZAD AHMED: “I’m a little bit nervous and sometimes my hands are shaky. But I’m very happy, and my happiness is overcoming my nerves”.

05:01

Bercem at hairdresser's

BERCEM ABD AL KADER: “I’m happy, I’m nervous. My dream will come true in a few hours”.

HAIRDRESSER: “Nice. It’s the night of your life”.

05:14

Time lapse. Bercem makeup for wedding

YAARA BOU MELHEM: But this union almost didn’t happen, with the threat of war always on the horizon.

05:28

BERCEM ABD AL KADER: “The situation is peaceful for the time being so we thought we’d get married now”.

05:42

Exterior. Bridal shop.

YAARA BOU MELHEM: What’s extraordinary is their union will be a civil rather than a religious one.  It’s a rare thing in a country where Islamic law has prevailed. 

05:56

Bercem and Azad into council building

Earlier in the day, Bercem and Azad stopped at their local council to make things official. 

06:09

Marriage bureaucratic process

Music

06:18

YAARA BOU MELHEM:  While they can avoid the strictures of religious marriage, they can’t escape endless paperwork.

06:20

BERCEM ABD AL KADER: “We chose to be married in a civil union. 

06:31

Music

06:35

BERCEM ABD AL KADER:  Today the woman in the office was doing everything.  During Assad’s rule the way they treated you was different, as if it was just a job they had to do”.

06:42

Woman issues marriage licence

WOMAN AT COUNCIL OFFICE: “Congratulations You are now married”.

07:05

Travelling shots

Music

07:10

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Civil marriage is one of the new laws mandated by the little-known government structure holding together this area.  The Kurdish-led authority controls about a quarter of the country and is seeking autonomy within a federated Syria.

07:13

Yaara walks to council meeting

I’m going to the administrative headquarters in the town of Ain Issa.

07:31

Council meeting

07:37

Yaara  to camera at council meeting

“It may seem unremarkable, but here we’re seeing north east Syria’s radical experiment in direct democracy.  There’s no top down structure.  Crucially, each position has to be taken by a male and a female, effectively mandating that 50% of positions in government are taken by women”.

07:43

Leila Mustapha at council meeting

Among the councillors is a 30-year-old civil engineer. Her name is Leila Mustapha.  She’s now the new head of Raqqa, the once notorious capital of ISIS and the tasks ahead of her are formidable.

08:03

Leila addresses council meeting

LEILA MUSTAPHA: “Clearing the ordnance ISIS left behind, the mental health needs of the community, and the construction of buildings without a permit”.

08:19

Yaara greets Leila. Both women into car

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “Hi Leila”.

Born and raised in Raqqa, Leila Mustapha is fiercely proud of her home town which was liberated from ISIS in 2017.

08:31

Drone shots. Naim Square, Raqqa

Music

08:44

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Leila is keen to show me how her city is recovering. She takes me to Naim Square, the site of ISIS’s most grisly punishments.

08:50

Music

09:04

LEILA MUSTAPHA: “The locals called it “Hell Roundabout”

09:13

Leila and Yaara in car at Naim Square

because of the brutal acts that were committed here”.

09:17

Naim Square rebuilding GVs

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Crucified and decapitated bodies were often put on display here.

09:24

LEILA MUSTAPHA: “We’re now working to redesign the Naim roundabout to help remove… the psychological effect it had on people”.

09:30

Leila and Yaara in car

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Leila is now leading the reconstruction of Raqqa and putting

09:50

Drone shot. Bridge rebuild

her engineering skills to good use.  One of the biggest jobs is rebuilding the main bridge.

09:54

Leila and Yaara walk by bridge

LEILA MUSTAPHA: “The old bridge was destroyed when the area was liberated. This old bridge and another bridge were the main connections between the right and left banks of the Euphrates River.

10:08

Drone shot. Bridge over Euphrates river

As you can see the Euphrates splits Raqqa in half”.

10:22

Leila shaking hands with men on worksite

YAARA BOU MELHEM: A woman taking this role was unthinkable during ISIS rule, even shaking hands with male colleagues was forbidden.

LEILA MUSTAPHA: “After the liberation people were a bit afraid.  Should we shake hands or not?

10:30

Leila and Yaara

Is it OK or not OK?  There was some hesitation.  But now it’s more relaxed. People greet each other normally”.

10:45

Drone shot through bridge pylon to barge on Euphrates

Music

10:54

Women walking on streets of  Raqqa

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Slowly, women are coming out of the shadows in Raqqa.  Under ISIS, they were confined to the house and only seen in public in full covering with a male guardian. 

11:10

Women at council seeking work

Back at council headquarters, we meet some women looking for work.

11:24

WOMAN: “Women couldn’t get a job at all.  We wouldn’t even dare to step out of our houses”.

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “But now you have the chance to work?”

WOMAN: “Now I have a chance and I’m actively looking for full time work”.

11:34

Drone shot. Raqqa

Music

11:47

YAARA BOU MELHEM: While the ISIS caliphate has been pushed out of Raqqa, the group still holds a small pocket of territory further south. 

11:55

Travelling shots

I’m heading to where the Kurdish majority Syrian Democratic Forces are waging their final battle against the group, with help from a US led coalition.

“So we’re on our way

12:06

Yaara in car to camera

to the frontline of what’s left of ISIS’s self-proclaimed caliphate.  It once spanned a vast area the size of Britain and Syria and Iraq, and we’re following a convoy of coalition soldiers”.

12:19

Drone shot. Hajin, Euphrates in b/g

The battle against ISIS has been isolated to the south-eastern Deir Ez Zor region’s village of Baghuz. 

12:35

Yaara into APC

Coalition air strikes caused much of the destruction here to drive ISIS out.  But ISIS left behind hidden dangers.

12:46

In car with Aram, passing destroyed villages

ARAM QAMISHLO: “They are moving between the houses but they need to be aware that there are mines”.

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Aram Qamishlo from the YPG, Syria’s Kurdish military force, takes us through devastated villages toward the frontline.

12:56

ARAM QAMISHLO: “There was intense fighting everywhere.  They used a lot of mines, car bombs and booby traps. That was their tactic. 

13:21

Yaara out of van

13:30

Yaara walking with soldier and Aram

Is this area safe?”

SOLDIER: “Yes, it’s safe”.

13:37

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “Okay so how far away is the ISIS position?”

SOLDIER: “From here to ISIS position like 500 metres”.

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “Just 500 metres!  Should we be out in the open like this?”

13:41

Aram and Yaara into building

Aram decides it’ll be safer to show me the frontline from higher ground.

13:57

Watching ISIS from top of building

 “There’s just motorcycles going past”.

14:09

ARAM QAMISHLO: “I see a lot of movement of motorcycles and cars. People are moving between a building and a school.  They look like women… they’re carrying kids, some people are on motorcycles, they have guns on their backs so they are ISIS”.

14:14

Yaara to camera at top of building

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “It’s pretty extraordinary these guys have to just sit and wait while they can see ISIS walking around just 500 metres away and can’t do anything about it because they don’t want to hurt any of the civilians that are there”.

14:38

Aram wants to show me some of the underground tactics ISIS is using to fight.

14:57

Yaara walks with Aram to ISIS tunnel

“So Aram is about to take us to an ISIS tunnel.  It’s what they’ve been using to avoid the coalition air strikes, and also it’s how they’ve been able to move around freely”.

15:05

MUSTAFA: “Follow the path! Please follow the steps”.

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “Because of booby traps?”

MUSTAFA “Yes”.

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “And mines?”

MUSTAFA: “Yes, exactly”.

15:16

Yaara and Aram at tunnel entrance

YAARA BOU MELHEM: At the entrance of the ISIS tunnel, Aram tells me it hasn’t been secured.

“Where does it lead?”

15:25

ARAM QAMISHLO: “I don’t know.  We’ve only taken this area recently, so while the mount of the tunnel is controlled, the inside is not.  It’s possibly linked to another place”.

15:33

YAARA BOU MELHEM: ISIS uses tunnels like this one to get behind SDF positions and ambush them with a suicide bombing.

“Perhaps we should move?”

15:43

MUSTAFA: “Yes actually we’ve had those incidents”.

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “Of people popping out and attacking?”

ARAM QAMISHLO: “Yeah it happens”.

15:52

Views from gun turret of APC

YAARA BOU MELHEM: The campaign against ISIS will soon be over.  Most of the civilians have left Baghuz and the final assault is underway.  But winning back territory has come at a heavy price.  This village is where some of the ISIS leadership fled to after Raqqa fell.

16:00

Yaara to camera walking down destroyed Hajin street

“There’s not much left of the town of Hajin.  It’s an absolutely apocalyptic scene.  It took the SDF more than four months to take this town from ISIS, essentially destroying it in order to free it”.

16:25

Civilians are beginning to return to this Arab-majority area, but many have nothing to come back to and their anger is directed at the Kurds and their US backers.

16:37

Yaara to men on destroyed building

 “We’d like to speak to you if possible”.

I want to ask this man how he feels coming back – to this.

16:53

Civilian man

CIVILIAN: “This whole area is destroyed. Nobody was here, there was nothing.   Why did this happen?  Who is going to compensate us?”

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “Who destroyed it?”

CIVILIAN: “Who destroyed it? Coalition jets destroyed it, who else?  What are we going to do now? We’re just living in a skeleton of a house”.

17:07

Drone shot over town

YAARA BOU MELHEM: As ISIS territory is squeezed, the fighters and their families are being captured or have surrendered.

17:33

Yaara to camera at market

“One of the more pressing concerns for authorities here is what to do with captured ISIS fighters.  About 900 foreign fighters are being held in Kurdish run prisons all across the region.  The US has called for countries to take back their citizens and prosecute them at home, but many nations just don’t want them”.

17:42

Drone shot over destroyed town

The majority of captured ISIS members remain in limbo.  They’re being held in secret US funded prisons. 

18:01

At a location we can’t disclose, we meet with one.

18:16

Yaara interviews Bekmirzaev

Alexandr Ruzmatovich Bekmirzaev is an Irish national originally from Belarus.  He wants to return to Ireland but thinks it’s unlikely he’ll be brought back.  He claims he and his family surrendered to the SDF as he escaped from ISIS last December.

18:22

“The SDF says you were captured as you were trying to carry out an attack on civilians”.

18:48

ALEXANDR RUZMATOVICH BEKMIRZAEV: “Let’s say just for a second, imagine yourself in my situation.  Your husband, it’s me.  You are the wife, like my wife, and you have a child.  You're planning to go surrender yourself, right?  Would you do any attack?”

18:54

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Bekmirzaev says he entered Syria in 2013, but insists he never fought, and offers this bizarre reason why ISIS never forced him to.

19:15

Bekmirzaev interview continues

ALEXANDR RUZMATOVICH BEKMIRZAEV: “Okay do you believe in magic?”

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “Try me”.

ALEXANDR RUZMATOVICH BEKMIRZAEV: “Okay first of all Allah he said in Koran that he created jin and humankind, okay? There’s another creature and this other creature he’s been used by the people, magician, they can insert this creature inside of human being and this human being can misbehave himself in certain ways. It depends on the spell.  Okay for example…”

19:29

[shot continuous]

YAARA BOU MELHEM: “So you believe you were possessed?”

ALEXANDR RUZMATOVICH BEKMIRZAEV: “Yeah”.

YAARA BOU MELHEM: It’s difficult to ascertain his mental state

Interview continues

or whether he was a fighter, but he paints a dire picture of the last days under ISIS.

ALEXANDR RUZMATOVICH BEKMIRZAEV: “Towards the end they just,

20:10

they pushed people to fight, you know?  They reduced supply of the food.  So they only bring the food for themselves, Iraqis, and then they make an announcement, you know, if you’re not going to fight, you’re not going to eat and that’s what happened to most people, they don’t eat. They were starving.  Some… there was even people died from starvation, kids”.

20:20

YARRA BOU MELHEM: “What was morale like among people?”

20:44

ALEXANDR RUZMATOVICH BEKMIRZAEV: “They were still saying the victory is close, the victory is close.  The victor for the Muslim people it’s always close.  It’s never far away”.

20:49

Sunset. Town

YAARA BOU MELHEM: The administration says people like Bekmirzaev shouldn’t be its problem.

21:00

Omar interview

Foreign Minister Abdel Karim Omar is warning they could again become a threat.

21:09

ABDEL KARIM OMAR: “Any chaos or any void, any offensive from Turkey or an offensive from another party will be an opportunity for these ISIS members to escape from prison and again pose a threat to us, the international community and their home countries”.

21:16

Checkpoint

YAARA BOU MELHEM: ISIS has lost its caliphate, but it’s not defeated.

21:45

Yaara to camera at checkpoint

“Taking back territory from ISIS doesn’t mean the threat is over.  The group is going back to its guerrilla warfare roots.  It has sleeper cells all over the region conducting suicide bombings, ambushes on highways and attacking checkpoints like this one”.

21:51

Soldier at checkpoint

These tactics have already killed dozens,

22:05

Leila with Yaara, at home

and Raqqa’s new leader, Leila Mustapha, knows her life is in danger.

22:09

Leila makes tea

LEILA MUSTAPHA: “Some of my colleagues, members of the civil council of Raqqa, have been attacked or assassinated. We’re expected to take all necessary precautions, but we’re not afraid to do our jobs”.

22:19

Rebuilding

YAARA BOU MELHEM: This young democracy may soon face a far bigger threat than ISIS.  It will lose protection when US forces are pulled out as planned. Turkey has pledged to invade northern Syria and smash the Kurds.  It fears autonomy here will embolden the 15 million Kurds inside Turkey to rise up with similar demands.

22:39

Simko up stairs to roof of building

Back at the frontline, Commander Simko says they’re ready for any Turkish offensive.

23:13

Simko interview

COMMANDER SIMKO: “Of course we will resist anyone who wants to attack our area or our people or the future we have been dreaming of. We will defend it.  We know that when the coalition pulls out there are other people worse than ISIS who want to attack us.  We will wait and see.  If Turkey attacks, we will respond to them”.

23:30

Soldiers on parade at funeral/Women ululate

Music

24:00

SOLDIERS CHANTING: [at burial of soldier] “In soul and blood we sacrifice for the martyr”.

24:33

Soldiers carry poster of Ismail

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Ismail Ibrahim gave his life to the cause. 

24:38

Carrying coffin through crowd

The 21-year-old YPG fighter was killed on the frontline.  It was an ISIS mine that he stepped on, but the rhetoric here is all about Turkey.

24:43

Soldier addresses crowd at funeral

KURDISH SOLDIER: “In the face of the brutal Turkish state, we bow to those who struggle daily and to the martyrs of Kurdistan.

25:03

Funeral crowd/Soldiers carry coffin

Music

25:17

Mourners beside grave

YAARA BOU MELHEM: All here are worried more sons and daughters will be taken in a conflict with Turkey. 

25:45

Facing the withdrawal of US troops, apart from a small peacekeeping force, the Kurds are keeping all options open, even negotiating with Russia and the Assad region.

25:58

Azad and Bercem head to wedding party

Music

26:13

Azad greets Bercem and hands her bouquet

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Back in Kobanî, the couple we met earlier, Azad and Bercem, are ready for their wedding party.

26:31

Wedding singers

SINGERS: “Azad is the groom, thank God Azad’s getting married”.

26:39

Azad greets Bercem depart for wedding

YAARA BOU MELHEM: It’s time to celebrate new beginnings, but the conflict is never far away.

BERCEM ABD AL KADER: “Turkey wants to destroy the peace.

26:53

Azad and Bercem in car on way to wedding

But we won’t let them do that to us so we said we’ll go ahead and get married, we’ll get on with our lives.  If necessary, he will fight and I will keep working”.

27:02

Azad and Bercem in

AZAD AHMED: “I’ll fight if I need to because I am a soldier. If Turkey is invading or there’s a war, she will cover the story and expose it to the world.

27:18

Azad and Bercem into wedding venue

PRESENTER: “Congratulations Azad and Bercem!

27:42

Wedding guests dance

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Friends from the military and from all over the region descend on this very Kurdish affair. War may come, but for now they’re taking control of what they can.

27:53

Bercem and Azad light cake/Guests dance

BERCEM ABD AL KADER: “Our dream has come true.  We are joined together.  That on its own is enough. As for the rest of it, life continues. You build a house, you have kids, but the main thing is we’re together, everything happens together”.

28:17

Bercem and Azad dance

AZAD AHMED: “Our hopes for the future are bright.  As Kurds, we are building a life we could never have dreamed of.  The Kurdish flag has been raised.  So the future is very bright”.

28:46

Bercem and Azad bow

Music

29:07

Guests dance and celebrate with bride and groom

29:14

Credits:

reporter                       Yaara Bou Melhem
camera                        Tom Bannigan
                                    Yaara Bou Melhem
research                      Mustafa Al Ali
editor                           Leah Donovan
assistant editor           Tom Carr
executive producer     Matthew Carney

29:36

foreign correspondent
abc.net.au/foreign
[abc logo]
© Copyright 2019

29:51

Additional vision:
Walking to ISIS tunnel entrance

30:00

Spent cartridges on ground

YAARA BOU MELHEM: Most of the civilians

30:01

View from APC gun turret. Drone shots

have left Baghuz and the Kurdish led forces have now taken the village.  ISIS has lost one of its last strongholds But winning back territory has come at a heavy price. 

30:02

Hajin destruction

This village is where some of the ISIS leadership fled to after Raqqa fell.

30:19

Yaara to camera

There's not much left of the town…

30:26

OUTPOINT

30:28