A trip through horror, confusion and contradictions in Syria
RAQQA, Syria - In a world of increasing conflict, one country stands out as a sad emblem of misery: Syria.
The country's 6-year-old civil war has sent 11 million people - half the population - fleeing their homes. Some 5 million people have left the country altogether. Those who remain face a nightmare of bombings, artillery attacks and a reign of terror wrought by the militant group Islamic State after it established its self-declared caliphate across a broad swath of Iraq and Syria in 2014. It was headquartered in Raqqa, an ancient city on the banks of the Euphrates River, 230 miles northeast of Damascus, that was once Syria's sixth-largest city.
Much of what's going on in this land of ancient fortresses and once-bustling commerce is a mystery. The government generally prohibits U.S. reporters from entering the country, and those granted visas can travel only under close supervision. Venturing outside government-controlled areas carries the risk of kidnapping, or worse, by Islamic State militants or other extremists.
U.S.-backed forces have largely recaptured Raqqa, yet it is hard to know how much of the hard-core Islamic State leadership is even there anymore. Other questions persist. What has happened to civilians during the battles? What about Syrian government troops - are they loyal to President Bashar Assad? What role is Iran playing on the ground?
We decided to try to find out. With special permission from Kurdish forces who control the gateways into eastern Syria from northern Iraq, I set out over the summer on my own - accompanied by a Kurdish interpreter, Kamiran Sadoun, and driver, Dijwar Ibrahim - on a trip across the Syrian countryside, traversing towns whose names of late were known mainly for the vicious battles that have unfolded there.
Loaded up with water bottles, bulletproof vests, medical supplies, snack bars, extra batteries, a satellite telephone and a device that allowed my editors in Los Angeles to track my location, we crossed by boat into Syria from northern
