Middle East

CNN video exclusive: In liberated Syrian city, life after ISIS

Taking God's name in vain could lead to prison; smoking cigarettes, a public lashing; playing cards, being locked in a cage for days.
 
That was life under ISIS for residents of Tal Abyad, a dusty town on the Turkish-Syrian border and a gateway to the area of Syria ruled by the extremist militants.
 
CNN correspondent Arwa Damon and her team continue their exclusive report from this former ISIS stronghold, speaking to residents trying to rebuild their lives, a delicate task with all that ISIS has left behind.
 
Damon discovers buildings riddled with discarded munitions and a rigged soda cup IED. Tal Abyad is a minefield of bobby traps.
 
Clusters of people can be seen on Tal Abyad's street corners. Residents — mostly men — gather on some, while others are occupied by YPG fighters.
 
In one of the former ISIS security buildings, the militants' black flag still ominously dominates the walls.
 
A shelf is still stacked with official ISIS notepads, one of them a form to be filled out by an individual taking responsibility for the crimes of another — for example a father whose daughter was not properly dressed.
 
It is fear of reprisal that made Mahmoud Darwish veil his three young daughters — now aged between 5- and 8-years-old.
 
There is a sense of unease in Tal Abyad that emanates from the adults. Most of their answers are short, laced with anger and frustration. Their bitterness is not directed at anyone in particular, but seemingly just at what life has forced them to endure and the uncertainty they continue to face.
 
The children appear to have been spared some of that anguish, or perhaps in the case of Darwish's three daughters, the difference lies in their elation at being outdoors without a headscarf.
 
Without their veils for the first time in two years, the young girls have a sense of joy in stark contrast to adults — who know their future remains uncertain.
 
Darwish's 5-year-old daughter twirls her yellow skirt, as her older sisters, Amine and Shuruk talk over the top of each other. The little girls describe how ISIS turned their school into a base and forced them to wear black headscarves.
 
"They kept dressing us in black," Shuruk said. "When ISIS was here we were not happy."
 
But now, they say, they are happy. One can only hope it stays that way.
 
 

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