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    Escape from Raqqa: how my three-year ordeal in the Isis stronghold ended | Tim Ramadan

    I had vowed not to leave the Syrian city until the hated black flags came down. Then a chance encounter set me on an unintended path fraught with danger
    by Tim Ramadan Oct 19, 2017 4 minutes
    RAQQA, SYRIA - AUGUST 17: MFS soldiers make their way back to their nocter (base) as the sun sets on August 17, 2017 in RAQQA, SYRIA . The Syriac Military Council (MFS) is a group of Assyrian Christians who fight alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Raqqa. The SDF was created in 2015 with the specific purpose of fighting ISIL and was armed by former US President Obama. The second Battle of Raqqa was launched in June 2017 and is the fifth and final phase of the Raqqa Campaign by the SDF. (Photo by Rick Findler/Getty Images)

    We had gathered as usual in one of the Raqqa houses for a dinner that consisted of a pot of bulgur cooked on firewood, olives and old bread. The older people shared a can of halva to maintain their level of blood sugar. The flames of the candles flickered with the breeze that came in through a hole created by shell damage to the house, and making out the details on the faces around me was difficult.

    There wasn’t enough food for everyone owing to the sudden late arrival of some families driven out of their homes by Islamic State because the battles with the Syrian Democratic Forces had drawn

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