on the watching d.w. news live on the long up next hour documentary so dr bell which takes us to iraq are in syria to find hope among the ruins and you can also find much more news and analysis on our website that d.w. dot com and you can also tweet us at c.w. for any information only you that you might find to share with us i'm ahead of ahmed's thank you very much indeed for watching us and from the team as well the fight back after. more than half the world will be living with limited water resources we haven't had to think about our war i think that era is over it's a financial like any other financial. change to most important commodity soon to be free fair. or mississippi or commodity starts march 22nd on d

w. i'm reminded. journalist and innocent. and i'm sitting off to syria to me she young woman few people have ever heard of it just 33 she's been the mayor of raca for close to 4 years this city of 300000 inhabitants which became the capital of the so-called islamic state was almost completely destroyed during the syrian civil war now it's may is a kurdish sunni muslim could haleigh mustafa. photographer usual lets you go t.n.i. i'm going to mesa i'm hoping to write a book with and about layla although i don't know if i'll succeed or what white says. after driving through northern iraq

we into syria under the protection of kurdish security forces this stretch of road is still dangerous. to see shushi reasons we would be staying with layla alone just 9 days 9 days in record. our story starts in 2011 with the arab spring in syria what began as a peaceful uprising was quickly and brutally crushed by president bashar al assad. seem to conflict escalated into full scale civil war. thank god thank god thank god thank. god. it wasn't

long before islamists had infiltration the rebel forces thanks in january 24th when assad's regime surrendered the city of record to the islamic state you proclaim that the capital of the caliphate a few months after the radical islamists took over the city and launched a reign of terror. nov 13th 2015 i asked terrorists whose orders came directly from raca launched coordinated attacks across paris following a series of terrorist attacks around the world a global coalition led by the united states came together to fight i.a.s. on the ground it was backed by the syrian democratic forces an army of kurdish an arab fighters the battle to liberate recommenced in june 2017 and would last for months.

i mean seeing your mother you should pull the curtains it's safer we're arriving in the aca you. know it's best to avoid being recognized as a foreigner. but through the curtains they can only see there are 4 people in them yeah otherwise they could want to harm or scare us. or detain us. that.

you made it that way you. 2 kisses on that side i don't know what it that welcomes ereka let's go upstairs. and i'll open the blinds the 2nd half. that. come with them how i you know i'm well and happy to see you this now of the situation here in america cries a lot of hard work sheet then yeah knee high leon at that and i schedule as hectic as well learning in laying the groundwork i spend most of the day working how that i am and. savak and joe used to have more free time you hear me as i go to the market or out to eat and. i go for walks etc can a laugh at me. be fatter but recently given the context norman and things have

changed and now must that that knife isn't behind big we'd like to see the house where you grew up. in a room outside and yes it isn't safe to go feed the situation has worsened recently on. your situation of like me and the security situation having of it i moved between rocca and i knew so on for security reasons i currently live with my parents and i nice of you and me sat in the ne so were we to go to the house they could discover where it is and how my family either has something like that. and i mean i asked their murderous among them but we'll try to find a way you never have how unlike you i'm not his and right now i'm under surveillance in regard with that but.

there is still so young normally she wouldn't have lived long enough to merit a biography but she she's already experienced more things than many people do in an entire life time tonight we'll have our 1st interview what will she tell me of her story that i can convey in my own words. a shovel in a class. working in iraq is extremely difficult particularly as it was the i asked capital. and because it was completely destroyed and not only from a human perspective but also in terms of its public utilities and infrastructure and be. a win yet that the. hand she in our what matters most is that we were freed from the i.r.s. nightmare it's more than we remember the things we went through and the constant fear we lived in at legion would be. tonight and.

at the flint children who lost their innocence and started playing with guns instead of toys. but of the shaft and all the ads children who watched their mothers being killed that is it that. i. in sons who calls their fathers deaths will violence who kill their sons. will it be fathers who saw their sons being killed yanni in short the crimes committed were horrendous. as you know them and. will and the money we will always remember the tears of our mothers and fathers and i learned by the children who were robbed of an education and a childhood. in zermatt land we will always remember our fallen comrades to them and how we witness their deaths. flats not naman and they will always be in our hearts so we have to do something is she and he loves them it's our duty to

leave something beautiful for the younger generation and less efficient he should be and that they should be able to go to school and study with books and notebooks laugh and play in the sand scribble on the walls and heat on. first hand. thankfully we've made some progress we don't even know and we want to do more. and as. sudden and despite how modest means we've already achieved a lot that's kind of what can mean a good state. little non-issues however people truly deserve more respect that it's happening. and we hope to give them the best always but then. admitted after.

driving through iraq we see rubble everywhere a little says to me too in the city wish to show signs which become symbols of i assist. 2 within the population islamic sleeper cells still exist and could be reactivated at any time. 2 2 2. layla

wants peace so she's a target. each outing she takes is a calculated risk. management engine and yet you have badminton on this square is a historic site and of course it was destroyed your and i is ruled. by now that that was when i asked was in power executions were held right here as well as other acts of repression against civilians. this quiz image was debased by the executions before and here it showed how to sleep with the culture in archaeology committee and after we started restoration in our land not that easy now but now looks a bit better than the man on my. not muslim the 1000 that statue is of a world and some that i was. let's go let's not stay here too long we're going to go. in rakesh she shares responsibility with

a kind man who's arab right up. in the east me yes i have a comair and 3 deputies at the glen he did a good in the idea is to have a could an arab head in each city. the main idea is to represent all the communities we want full representation and the administrative and institutional structures that to take into consideration the different segments of society kurds arabs tuchman i mean eons and christians. but it was that this. month that the what in the name square here has been completely transformed it's now officially called the sun. i don't know meantime the previous name was after the all name ice cream parlor where we all go. drinks and ice creams and no not in the know what we used to call 9 square the roundabout

from hell because every day 7 heads were put on display here it was there was an iron fence all around the roundabout it was an awful sight. that. enough's enough and we're also going to make a miniature of the iron fence to represent and symbolize the terror that reigned here so we won't forget the brutes the locals who were killed here. them is it a homicide. any connected matter if an incident should also serve as a reminder to other countries of the things the so-called islamic state did to us the people of iraq are. elmo mean and nasty and had. been beaten and let's move on and i've been. in is this it safe for you to do city tours like this or do you have to quickly get back into the car. city of. the city as

a. lot and it depends currently the situation has got more i a supporter as active again as i find this from iran turkey and other regions. and before i moved around freely to follow up on projects at that however right now we need to be more careful in upton and not just at least. in the bot. the sleeper cells became active after donald trump's decision to withdraw u.s. troops so she could apply not as many killings in the area have targeted civilians as well as the administration and then he knows that that's that he does so we need to watch out. i love wouldn't want that. sort. of that are you afraid to go out. numbers while i am human after all but now i have to be cautious but not too cautious. now fear could affect my work at that i am an

alum and then spend their work must go on so i try not to disrupt it and. besides god decides when we die. during the height of the conflict rakhal was in the international spotlight now the city is on its knees and all but forgotten by journalists and international aid organizations. 80 percent of the city is destroyed. a senior u.s. military official said that more artillery shells were moved into record than anywhere since the vietnam war. all the cities walls by the scars of the

brutal and cruel battles force here. they also bear witness to both sides determination to fight to the bitter end entire families were buried beneath the rubble turning braca into a vast symmetry. mattie . take this is a souvenir it's for you i think for many i can have that thanks i love it. well not all accidently callignee that one of the main reasons i read the qur'an is the issue of identity within a nation and its and. in their medical commie. commie

messages to my syrian society used to be very harmonious exeter the national. domestic nabby and yet we really weren't at maintaining good relationships with our arab neighbors. yet than our luck at night she turned out her. and. we got along really well to laugh at a man that in fact when i asked issue the decree expelling the kurds our neighbors were devastated but the one i had is me and when we fled they stored some of our belongings for us in their homes without us even having to ask the heartbeat home model of naaman that's how strong our bond was at the bottom was. behind for it at about that time and initiative was launched by the people of rocca to set up a preparatory committee and. we thought i had the skills when i found out

a plan for a democratic nation was in the making that i had i made at least on myself participating in i'm a democrat. billing that half a block it's not we met exclusively with the people of iraq or had wished we had skype meetings with those who found themselves outside syria had not been a list guy molly and we held secret meetings for the ones inside record high 30 and the death of the. 10 men who seek i was sick of die off it was agreed by an absolute majority to hand the presidency and administration of the council to shake mahmoud shock of our son and myself the engineer they learn the stuff or be asked to measure this was. it that in much less shaped mark would show like a bus and had no rival candidates this. in my highly and use of my engineering degree and administrative credentials and the fact i'm a woman from rocker they agreed on me by majority vote.

in october 17 2017 after 4 months of feel his combat the syrian democratic forces kurds and arabs men and women celebrated a victory on niam square once a symbol of islamic states barbarity. l.i.l.o. so al my life to be happy the streets and alleys of rock era peppered with landmines laid by us feet that it is him yeah we're trying to remove all the landmines planted in the area which would then. set up it's our role and responsibility has rock a civil council now not in an eye

as had transformed the low level of records soccer stadium into a prison which no one ever left i have a time mask race will be discovered all over the city proof of systematic organized and methodical extermination. and look at who the. that's continue in front of me don't laugh because they see the guy lost the civil council has officially founded what more it's most important 1st mission as far as you know if you get you can say for condones losing my not going head and we visited each region as soon as it was liberated economical how we stood at the side of the road the displaced persons travel on an anomaly and we took care of them he he any mark of mr cabal home we try to give them hope along with food and water madame banana we. believe.

once rakhal was finally freed so can you describe your return to see disfigured 1st by us then by war. can that be teddy lashley that was on october 20th 2017. i. read this fellow we all just stood there crying aka from the sun and she had the militia know it postponed announcing the liberation because we were so demoralized yet measure and. basically we were all in shock guess how the men in the cities landmarks were completely gone the fact my limited name she could come in. we could no longer recognise the streets we used to walk along every day of the interview have shaquille o'neal madman and for this street

all that straight line we were in despair john p. but it was a shock to the. unknown. mark we're not caused by how could rock a have been destroyed to basic stand and it would be day out because there was so many landmines we would clear one area then move on to the next that in one of the for a month. in the city center there were 8000 landmines. from an 8000 mines no that's huge. and i had that. as. soon as we with a scared look lifted you have to consider backing out saying to yourself i can't do it and say me i won't know how i was appointed head of the council but i can't. really consider backing out giving up a little bit there for to. morrow and if i'm not sure he did

till suddenly international maybe because of the intensity of the shock and our feelings at the time we always sense a sort of driving force behind us so that when they miss lee they keeps pushing us the fashion pushing us onward and they think manana and i'm sure. there are 2 feelings i was desperation on one hand a driving force on the other. rebuilding record is a huge undertaking countless conferences were called to announce the commencement of work in various parts of the city and public buildings hospitals schools electrification water treatment refuse collection road repairs. for navigation a man's world this daily challenge is colossal and unusual as it is to many that

we finished phase one and are moving on to phase 2 of them in the efforts and sacrifices people have made in order to reach an advanced and stable development in the future as it were the 1st that use your own words you know the subject and what about the 2 committees. did you turn on the mikes yes there are. welcome thank you all for being here let us pay tribute to our martyrs. the martyrs or a symbolic leaders. today's meeting is about restoring iraq as water supply system as well as the waste water

and sanitation project. here to talk to us on behalf of the raga civil council is mr mishler our daughter wish. is. it is with great pleasure that the civil council announces the continuation of its sanitation and the waste water project. the rock a civil council is committed to financing the city's reconstruction. kill hitler. so facebook i need her facebook page there found it. you sent her request but she says i'm not sure i'll accept. she's lovely with her head down

now and i wanted. to so i was born on september the 12th 1988 and rocca. the right call. yeah nice and it had was not a good month that year the crops were plentiful here this is an agricultural region the harvest was so good they couldn't fill all the sex by hand which one isn't anyone will through my life was supposed to be full of happiness i have since i was born in a prosperous year bought. it. in not get it but what percent of rocca has electricity that up by right now practically 0 percent frenchie we haven't even started with the electrification a new generation this was huge thing new rockers electrical infrastructure was completely destroyed in the surrounding images that have a cancer drug in but inside the city the infrastructure was a blizzard watch not budge but a pool set up because it decides that all hell or hell you. are asked for starting to work on the power supply of 2 sites in the industrial park to

. get it into home to finish the work we started 6 days ago 6 days i mean we need more workers in. the landfill because you need more workers for a brief period and lisette it did they still need to stay on for maintenance some 30 more workers for a large insisted it could be a lot of abseil mama with the salmon that's the university where i studied the euphrates university right at it critically and the department of civil engineering units. that i am one every day i drove down this road. buddy on me there was an old man who sold cakes from a cart and their muslim blood money i never bought them anywhere else i'm on the head to foot and measure how little just appears to make him now but.

2 6 6 that's how i how you behave polish your safety harness. as. in a little but there's nothing on the signs the civil council isn't mentioned any less this project is financed by the council advertise all the civil council budgets for. the gates are there. was no one in the works and there aren't any here were done how did you call that person yes the administration put it here. because one of the so it's fresh from the factory. i swear that's old yes i know but it's not our fault. it was just a vendor tell me it's new no we mean the works recently. don't think you can full make you can't fool me like that.

it'll find it'll move in soon as you. christmas who fled the fighting are returning as soon as the land mines are cleared they move back into balance if the groups are still standing. down any outside help or any mainstream they settle into the movements and must make do with what's left reclaim their land open the shops feed their families invent a future and believe in it costs. i assume it's a prison devastated the status of the. contract his young people and taking to the pitch and taking back the symbolic location.

tonight layla has invited us to hug for the. first time in a long time she was adamant about cooking his son for. the security reasons layla doesn't live in raca. she lives with her parents in a guarded residence in line. every morning a night she tries to steal on tues between the 2 cities often after dark road the danger lurks. in the shoes off. over the loo having visitors from france gives us the chance to eat with layla translated thanks to them we can finally eat with layla.

that it was bashed long hole we were able to say was our lives i asked forced us to flee our homs the kurds were to go to the region of totem and we thought they'd kill off there was nothing out there each family piled into a car we parted ways we fled and didn't eat for 8 days others managed to flee our motorcycles they left one after the other. we ran out of gas and were forced to stop. to look at a belly in the middle of nowhere i didn't know where we were there wasn't a soul and that there were sandstorms i sat down and started to cry i got out on the horizon i thought someone approaching one of sooner realised it was my thumbs motorbike i thought i had captured her. we saw yet others arriving from the opposite direction what. they were made the case said i'd never seen such brutality and that i have had purged all of the longings they stole everything we had i would have thought i would match the words of

a guardian of the reviewers are good that's not important and shallow our times will change like they stole our belongings but that's not the worst yury a night again and hand them thank god some lost family we lost no one. since we arrived layla has opened up more and more i learn what drives her and i've seen her will and determination at work i've heard and understood her message i share to you but i worry about her latest personal life is almost nonexistent her car is a target she works around the clock i'd like to tell her to take care of herself though it's a pretty useless piece of advice given the wall she inhabits she devotes all her attention to rocca to mock you see the syrian people the need to end the war and

rebuild the nation layla forges ahead with little consideration for her own welfare. by layla. you ok. and i'm sick how we are oh i'm sick and overworked. then you get back it is a us withdrawal worry or you can't do you fear the american withdrawal. the. it's not about fear this is a little bit about life and death and. most of the alcohol and the bulk of our work is only just starting any bias sleeper cells are everywhere in every city week after immigrant and some parties want to take

advantage of this power vacuum and definitely she like iran has a law with russia on the syrian regime who see turkey. and the journey this withdrawal will have serious consequences she said with the diarrhea and they will reach well beyond northeast syria might have the surface catalyst soon it will affect other countries will have to decide on it she managed to. hit the diet plan had to do it because what happened in russia and it can happen in other parts of the world $150.00. luckily again. certain countries participated in directly and what happened in america who are the more like in a duel canada sheri can be shaky laden why should he now has that. what daily mazie 1000 solicit the leftists that this is borne out by the

3000 unidentified bodies other than muslin or camila and i think that number will increase to 4000 left. in heavy and bad and i've made and among those 4000 bodies many of the unidentified bodies of foreign isolation and a dash a to the members of i ask him from many countries even if they let me get him for their for if there is no international solidarity he had enough but could i ask could resurface under another name as we sum up maybe in another form anywhere in the world able by your theory can it actually more juggernauts law recently job but the last changed its name to fattah hull sham front. may i but according to reports it is a terrorist organization. and a loss leaders are now being treated in takesh hospitals and. to how is it

possible that members of al nusra can find medical assistance in taki instance when you're going to let you not if an investigation is necessary to force the international community needs to intervene this is the reality is that there is trafficking to help finance these terrorist organizations you know see we did see acts young scenes of again since you always book well why is the world silent well before why international forces remain in size and. i was indicted powell there was a will to create conflicts sectarian ethnic and religious conflicts you know to destroy the social fabric and. he said beat them sequel. but in spite of that the man despite the terrorism half of the murders and the brutality. were in the

end they failed we will cut him in a hurry or cut my fish. damn you give people hope but do you have any yourself as a me on the end of the halls. yes we just see positive changes honestly yes. i want to comment i'm sure. when i walk through the streets of reckon now i see it come back to life. in a space of a year shops have reopened and life has returned and i really hadn't had it down. to. any young new man in today when you pass by on 9

square you see people that are taking photos having fun there was. painted anything feels possible nick that it really feels possible and nice militia. people seem to have started to live normal lives again militia take their time in our lives and they're starting their lives a new ending up in the us in the same people on the streets today and all i'm square is the grace of the victories for us.

i had them in august now. be. and. all the points we have discussed boil down to the same thing namely good knowledge meant of human existence and limo wanted when it had humans a bone naked lacking everything lacking religious ties lacking family ties lacking tribal ties with other national ties it's actually. really event in the hand who was there in fact you start with just a nascent soul and that soul deserves respect. and i didn't. mean it at that and i didn't even though there were many deaths many macias and many missing persons enough to that many women who disappeared and he

said that many women who were raped in this land what used to sin the without the least respect for human life unusual and then. there was no genuine initiative on the part of the united nations security council or a so-called human rights organizations are saying of them not for who can and. and then i don't. mean a heavy when you listen to these different organizations founded on humanism. and you observe their work out in the field and hal and others what they say has nothing to do with reality humans would love to be seen on the contrary humanity itself is trampled on as. someone in a cheeky take nelson mandela and che guevara indira gandhi was an o.b. or he was a female leader there are many historical figures who have left their mark on

history theda the people continue to represent their ideal of. me haven't sat and what i've got have that just everything. i lack in will and unfortunately successive regimes have always driven people in another direction. powerful regimes are focused soley on the economic interests which generate don't benefit ordinary people like in a shop. and have the most. since our trip some $80000.00 former residents reportedly returned to wrack up and tens of thousands of displaced persons fleeing war zones have found refuge there today the former capital of the caliphate continues on this road towards democracy gender equality pluralism and reconciliation. play mostafa opals born in raca under north or tyrian regime in

a country that's now enjoyed 8 years of civil war i was born in a democratic country at peace we come from different worlds so what do we have in common 9 days. line to talk to me trusted me and i watched and listened she gave me everything she could and i took you know i've always been wary of her from weeks 3 kids and most often may not be a heroine but today i know she's exceptional so i will tell her story i will write that book.

6 6 eco india. muslim boys i did with a message. that in a not recycle cyrus but in india are sometimes only worn once the 1st special occasion. she has one goal in particular and gently distract me from

the mind isn't to her isn't. d.w. . what keeps us all safe what makes us sick and how do we stay. my name is dr carlson the i talk to medical experts. watch them at work. and i discuss what you can do to improve your head. stay choose and let's all try to stay in good shape. because. every day counts for us and for our planet.

living mindedness is on its way to bring you more conservation. how do we see the screen how can we protect habitats what to do with all our waste. we can make a difference by choosing smart to solutions overstrained said you know the way you say. good morning to you those fundamental series you move through towns and on to double your money. this is d w news and these are our top stories chancellor angela merkel's conservative party has been handed a blow by voters in 2 german states elections in the southwestern states of bronze inverts and the like the green party looks set to stay in power so to the south of democrats in neighboring the violence plots in a city you know.