Bastion. The wounds will take a long time to heal but the kurds are already rebuilding their country and the various parties to the conflict in syria all have their own plans for the postwar era but what do the kurds want here in rwanda as they call their territory in Northern Syria. Our journey to riyadh begins on a ferry boat taking us across the river tigris subject of legend since ancient times and which now follows the border between modern day iraq and syria. Here the river marks the eastern boundary of traditional kurdish territory in Northern Syria which is divided into 3 major regions. Has iraq in the east centers on the city of commissioning the euphrates region on call bani in early 2018 Turkish Forces attacked an occupied the Western Region of africa in what they referred to as an antiterrorist operation. They also reinforce their border as seen here in co bonnie. Years previously on korea had already placed an embargo against or yahveh insisting its rulers worldling of the banned Kurdish Workers Party the p k k. Weve been to rajas on 2 previous occasions in 20142015 when the kurds were just beginning to build their own administration. For the next few years the region was unsafe for journalists to travel to until late summer 2018. So what had become of roy and the and vicious plans of the people weve met back then. Our Journey Continues to. The biggest city in. The influx of refugees fleeing the war has seen the population of rabbi increase from 4 to an estimated 5000000. In addition to the kurds is also home to a syrian army and arabs and turkmen when the Syrian Government withdrew from the Northern Region during the civil war in 2013 the groups took joint control of their territory. We 1st met in commissioning in 2014 when we accompanied him on his way home he used to live in switzerland he now works as a presenter on the run r. T. T. V. Station like all journalists there he was armed in case of islamised attacks a few months before we met coal you his daughter who had been killed in one such attack how does he see the situation today. Is in the nick of the threats have diminished but so have the opportunities for work the me who what we want now is for other people to see and hear what we have managed to do here with. This 60. They were killed for example but ive rarely heard anyone talk about it. Seemed calm and journalists are still in danger. Exists now not just my yes but also from turks and from the Syrian Regime and its militias. Looking back how does he assess the establishment of Self Government and more yaba which was still in its infancy touring our original visit. Since the people in charge made a lot of mistakes and initially. Yes but over time they gathered experience and improved the look the turks are going crazy because they always thought that was laughable and would be gone again after a few months. But now theyre noticing as we are has continuously evolved. I hope that over time well be able to bring about real change here for syria not just for a. Move for. In 2016 representatives of the various ethnic groups announced the creation of the Democratic Federation of north syria known as reopened. The autonomous government of the region meets here in america we asked officials about the objectives of their model for society. To make a saucy so real war we found ourselves fighting was not with weapons but changing relations between the genders over 5000 years the male dominated mentality has become entrenched here its not easy to abolish you might see women everywhere but its still often men who have the final say its a lose really to believe that you can change that mentality in the space of just 20 years here in raleigh yahveh weve had to rely more on our own resources than on outside help. Those of. Us suddenly start. 2017 saw the 1st elections and which we are told were held on the basis of grassroots democratic principles. Very clear my 1st elections were at the smallest local level yes the much local administration forms the basis of society. But just we then held elections at the 2nd level from city and regional in addition while they were a bit difficult due to events in africa but not many were looking. Since the arabs here were liberated from minus control and became familiar with our model for society theyve now become increasingly receptive to the project their liberated arab towns now govern themselves and its precisely those arab towns that are so important for our administration but one thing i would like to emphasize is due to arab culture women there had little influence in society you know our system of selfgovernment they now enjoy equal footing with men. Why a features a little tree bearing the photos and names of young fighters who fell in the battle for riyadh its one of the many places where people remember their martyrs as they are seen here. The war has exacted a heavy toll on the Younger Generation but that has not stopped people here and their determination to continue defending their country. To question and were happy that we women are also able to take up arms on it that used to be impossible now we too are defending our country and are available wherever were needed to in unison. So i think youre all. I asked are barbarians. They have nothing to do with islamic you know in his law you do not cut off peoples heads. Thats what were defending our children against and why we are here and on. The turkish armys invasion of afrin that overwhelmed by a wave of Refugees International aid was conspicuous by its absence complains one of the representatives they all this. Constant doing anything because. This is system those that if. You refuse these are the result. This is without anything. You set out to meet some of the refugees and arrive at a seemingly never ending came to the Turkish Military offensive left an estimated 200000 people displaced from africa 2001000 will see tens of thousands more arrive from areas liberated from yes. Some have found a temporary home in the abandoned village of tel necessary near till to may or 70 families from africa now live here with their stories related to civilian victims of the turkish invasion. Im really quite adamant about that we didnt want to leave our houses and property behind but we had to because of the bomber plans. Children like these here were simply killed their bodies were everywhere. Some had severed legs others had no arms. People were desperate and didnt know what to do. We had to flee iraq the bombs fell and i were planes and we had to leave our home my. Job to hold the ticket than. We had learned and her. Children went to school there and you know unable to take anything with us just the clothes on our backs. What we had to leave behind orlando documents and money. Everything. All we could think about was saving ourselves and getting out of there very late going to get married the biggest ally in the world hear about the air waves what people are blind and deaf in the boat a 7 member so nobody saw the planes above us and there was no response people just for 55 days after. The cover we all fled while the planes bombed us it was impossible to leave by car and we had to escape by the mountains priority was getting to safety for 2 whole days i couldnt give my child any milk. I grabbed her like this every time. She was scared and cried when we love the view of the sea or. The village used to be home to christian assyrians before it was destroyed by us. Like thousands of others from africa its new residents 1st found refuge in the overcrowded camp and sheba caught their off time with each other and in short there werent even any tense there when we arrived we spent your 1st 20 days living and sleeping on the streets. Sometimes it was cold and rainy which cost a lives of a lot of. Children there were no doctors there was no water practically nothing to eat and there were too many people we had to get out of there. And. That. The kurds were abandoned by the International Community and left to their own fate following the turkish invasion says t. V. Presenter. He witnessed events in africa firsthand the could. The kurds always had huge hopes in europe especially germany. But what we saw in reality was very saddening. Thats what it was we couldnt believe what we saw in africa for example. When the 1st tanks arrived with the turkish invasion and the. German made tanks to do it. Nobody challenge that. And thats why ive lost a lot of hope i had in europe. We defended ourselves against the terrorists against us and then the americans arrived so i said 1st we have to do something and if we do something good then i think other people will follow and again not because of us but because of their own interests you know we have a lot of water here and were going to an oil gold and phosphates gold was. Our next stop is the teacher and dam on the river euphrates the region borders territory occupied by turkey and is home to one of the biggest reservoirs of water in rwanda. The dam was the scene of fierce fighting during the civil war whoever controlled the dam also controlled electricity production caracas aleppo. In december 2015 it was captured by kurdish led forces. That initially had been taken by the Free Syrian Army in 2012 before being conquered by us in 2014. Dam has 6 turbines even now it still has to be protected from potential attacks but currently the engineers have problems of a completely different nature to focus on. Mehmood is the head of the regional Self Governments Energy Commission its an old contract he explains requires turkey to supply. A guaranteed amount of water from the river euphrates. Between 20032011 when the Syrian Government was in control here the amount of water was over 500 cubic metres per 2nd more than required by contract. In the years 2015 and 2016 when i s were here it was 643 cubic meters. Then after the dam was liberated from i. A. S. It was just 394 cubic meters or so. And in 2018 the level dropped to 235 cubic meters this is. So after the islamists have been driven out of turkey used the water supply as a weapon against us and has been causing huge problems for people in the region. And head into. The water in the dam has fallen dramatically mooted de details the disastrous consequences hospitals bakeries and farms suffer from frequent power shortages with only 2 turbines running he explains its extremely difficult to maintain even a rudimentary supply of electricity at the same time he and his team have to deal with the damage wrought by the Free Syrian Army and Islamic State. With the limited means available to us we managed to restore the dam to a relatively good condition. But we urgently need spare parts weve already fitted the parts we have. The ability of the teacher in dam to guarantee royalties Electricity Supply in the future depends on turkey he says the fear at the headquarters of the Syrian Democratic forces in unison is that uncurl will continue to use every means at its disposal to prevent an atomic kurdish region in its backyard the s. D. F. Are an alliance of militia groups in which the kurds constitute the main fighting force. They were also supported by 2000 american troops into early 2001000 news of their possible withdrawal caused an outcry. A look is important you know its not only the turkish will keep patiently hopping but its got its media tends to change so i think the demographic situation is cited i think by by bringing people from different areas from different i think components or. Are digital photos from different places whether it is from damascus from hans from hamas from a goodbye to make them stay in office and im not alone the orders of those people often to come back to their homes following the events in africa say the s. D. F. There was an increase in skirmishes with the turkish army. They are starting small attacks against the forces so we respond in defense of for our service there they are accusing us of attacking doing wolf they are accusing us of being afraid to do their security and that is how they want to get also through its demise. So the vicious gives the orders of the city of the spokesman is eager to point out the importance of close cooperation with the civilian representatives of the autonomy government nor yaba. Some of the stuff. Anywhere or the particles of the region dont know directly for. The civilian. Station as. We continue our journey to visit a base held by a unit of the all women p. J. Brigade. The young women of our yahveh have developed a fundamentally new concept of the role of vocal society and also as regards the military for years women fought alongside men in the battle against the terrorist militias of i. A. S. Among kurdish combat units their claim to make up almost one quarter of troop numbers. Welcome to the fellow who. These 2 commanders have seen front line action at a variety of theaters in the war and civilian life say my bahar was a stage actress. And to show that once the war is about id like to see a change in peoples attitudes and for us to continue developing a project for a society where you know. A lot of young women are keen to sign up and fight at an early age they have to be 18 however before they can be accepted for combat duty the mind does when we began our revolution in well yeah it was also a revolution for women nobody ever imagined it would be possible for men and women to fight shoulder to shoulder us come raids working together for days at a time the move on but nobody could have hoped for that but now weve done it. How most men and women have equal rights here they always make decisions jointly in a mixed structures of selfgovernment. Women have been the initiators of many ideas that would previously have been unthinkable. The banner at the entrance to this womans cooperative in a mood proclaims the beauty of women. The group of 10 women join forces in order to become more independent overcoming initial opposition from their husbands. So full of here in the middle east women do not have equal rights they are meant to remain invisible and on educating but we made a break with that mentality this is a unique project here and the mood women now have a public presence and are running a shop where we buy and sell everything ourselves. Or the police so that women are also our customers here busy enough is not good the only thing men are allowed to do here is shop to see. This little girl out. Of this it is that when men used to count money they would often say to each other let me do it you count like a woman but thats over now. The shop sells both clothes the women have made themselves and additional stocks they have to buy from elsewhere to fuel this that way this is our revolution. We have our women fighting at the front but the work we do is just as important you could see it as an interior front. He said you know that. There are also plans for another womens project in a mood of an entire shopping street one exclusively by women the Health Care System is still under construction but otherwise the womens village of jean wore outside has already been completed women are determined to be in charge of their own lives here. To go from germany has been assisting their efforts. To found the i mean the women moving in here are we doing this who have lost their husbands all members of their family in the war zone some of the women have had trouble at home such as Domestic Violence for me and. They want to free themselves from challenging situations and find a new home here. And of course there are women who just want to live together here. The 30 houses were built with clay bricks in accordance with ecological and traditional construction methods ensuring their cool in the summer and warm in the winter. But its so impressive you notice how a lot of men who come here are initially skeptical and have difficulty imagining what this is supposed to be. Thats about even though its a completely different working atmosphere here which gives the men who work here good for thought. Ive been learning a huge amount here. Its amazing to see the village growing and to see the links going deep day by day those between the women in the local committee and with surrounding villages well the new developments make me want to stay here longer here this is. Nothing i have. More Journey Continues to call bonny on the border to turkey. A city the world looked on with bated breath in late 2014 and early 2015 it was in code bonnie that not just the fate of roy but also the course of the civil war in syria would be decided. We managed to reach ghobadi right after its liberation and we still remember the images of a destroyed city and large parts raced to the ground now we experience a different call bonnie at 1st glance it looks just like any other city in the region when we were here in early 2015 most of the people we met were kurdish fighters most of the inhabitants had fled but soon after the liberation the population returned and made a city buzzing with life again. Were surprised to see how little of the destruction is still visible and decide to take a closer look. By the turn of 2015 nobody had been reduced to ruins with 80 percent of the city destroyed. Slow chasing love oh. She. Could the city be resurrected. How would people ever be able to live here again. The battle for lasted 134. 00 days. I guess deployed 50 tanks and 7000 troops and its assault on a city of over 100000 people. The kurds defended their city and house to house fighting initially outnumbered outgunned with their 5000 fighters and weapons that were either outdated herself built. Thanks to u. S. Airstrikes the tide continued to turn in their favor. By the end of january 2015 the city was under kurdish control but fighting continued in the surrounding region. By us had overrun some 365 villages but now the kurds were recapturing them in the process puncturing biases aura of invincibility called body was now the turning point in the war against us and the beginning of the end of its selfproclaimed caliphate. And for the kurds a beacon of their resistance to. This is whats left of a school that like so many others was destroyed by ground battles and air strikes. Its where pervert used to be a teacher. This is where we 1st met him before he worked for us as an interpreter. With overhead showing us around a destroyed Industrial Area together with a group of kurdish journalists an area that had seen particularly fierce fighting. Out of it was the record of. These workshops were used by mechanics serving Islamic State to repair vehicles and build car bombs the walls are covered in graffiti glorifying is. A pervert had shown us a tunnel where he and other local sought shelter during air raids. Today perper works as a journalist we accompanied him as he returned to the neighborhood where i guess had its deadly workshops but here too there are relatively few physical scars from the war between us and the kurdish y. P. G. Forces. In 2015 you could barely walk in this area because of the destruction of the rubble in this sport that im standing that was. I think at that time what do you think this will. Be do you fight there are those people who came back during the war we did not recognize these areas again because now its clean the whole was peeved in this area this is a little like normal people thought were. You can see the shops everywhere. Freedom square had practically been reduced to 2 dimensions back then. This is where we arranged an interview with n. P. R. News lead then called president of the kabbani canton. Now hes a member of the autonomy governments executive council. Practically the only physical reminders of the conflict are the countless bullet holes in the facade of the administrative building. Which. We have a lot of social projects of our own but we dont want a divided syria thats. Whats happened in the halls and we want to United Country with a democratic basis. Where all social groups are able to live on an equal footing. And according to their cultures and the bolivian mother we believe that social problems cannot be solved militarily. Only by peaceful and equal coexistence between us new groups. And this could become an example for the entire middle east not we have supported this enough for in many ways and are doing it here in kabbani. There are a number of promises from abroad to help reconstruction he reports but none were kept. On the scene other so we didnt wait for outside help you still have a lot of work to do we have destroyed houses and People Living in our shop we want to help dont go to the fact that much. Over 50 percent of core body has been rebuilt since and. We go to visit one of the new residential districts. After the war both are were in a way to rebuild their houses. This small part where. You do the help 1 which came to 2 people but 3 more fully its. Only this these buildings were because of money reconstruction as their areas were rebuilt by people by their own. But anyway its good that now we see when we rebuild it after this mass destruction. The war devastated cop on its infrastructure when we were here in 2015 the city had no Drinking Water or electricity. This was what was left of one of the main shopping streets many of those returning and to live in emergency shelters. This week there was the haiti clashes and every 3 days there were a curtain. Where using curtains to. Y. P. Defied theres a time. Now you can see the life normalized. You know its very crowded people are shopping here the shops were normal like before. Today the shops appear well stocked and shoppers and roy alba can buy practically everything again unlike in 2014 when supplies were disrupted. Turkeys in bargo in the region had a severe impact on the peoples daily life. Many items had to be smuggled into the country at great expense in the meantime supply routes are now up and working via syria and iraq. Many people in africa fled to ko body following the turkish invasion. Such as this family who have since found a place to stay with relatives. They make regular calls home in which they hear about constant harassment from the new rulers in africa. And i did that some of the relatives who stayed behind were put under pressure to leave the head of but if you leave they put people from good in your house they steal your gold and if they want to arrest you they just do it that you want to give it up everyone is under constant surveillance. And they make arbitrary arrests so you. Wouldnt have been the big get to meet lee forced people to go to the mosque you know that women have to wear a long black dress. These are there are no laws for everyone whether youre kurdish or from an appeal to 100. 00. And to the kurds put up any resistance. To battle with just the kurdish militias forth and. But how can you fight off a member of nato for 60 days with all their weaponry its impossible. The kurds tried everything they could to stop them but they failed to kill the. This pharmacy in the center of core body belongs to men off to carney who was also among the people we met in 2015. Back then medication wasnt desperately short supply but not today. The situation has improved a lot by maybe 70 percent but we hope things will continue to improve and that the roads will reopen. That will make it easier to get medication for local people. In 2015 we filmed minoff get conny collecting urgently needed medicines from the cities bombed out pharmacies. He also looked after people who had stayed in cobol and despite the fighting. 1000 refugees from the area surrounding called bani had found refuge in the borders between syria and turkey stranded without outside help. For the turks refused to let them across the border. The pharmacist helped provide them with what they needed as best as he could. But all too often he ran out of medication. That might be but i would say it was really tough for them and we had to wait ages for medication to arrive if it did at all. We had no choice but to use medication past its expiring date and one that. Almost all the road links are now open again or we hope that the prices will now fall as well. In 2015. Took us to see the local hospital which lay in. And after being blown up by us. It had been equipped with modern facilities thanks also to International Aid from the likes of frankfurt based medical international which donated medication blood bank and ambulances. Following the destruction of the hospital doctors had set up a makeshift clinic in a basement they treated both injured soldiers and civilians Emergency Medical Care with the war raging above ground and with the doctors on duty around the clock. In the river. City commitment was among those who continued to work here even during the fiercest fighting season called bonnie. When we shot this footage 5 badly injured fighters from the front were brought in next door 2 of them died that same night. This is one of the 2 new hospitals the kurds were since able to build and. We managed to track down a med he was on his day off which is why we met him at home with his family. The war is still not over and left its mark 70 where. The people are not on a sound psychological constitution theyre extremely anxious ill be there we nor our children will ever be able to forget all of us. Theres still the smell of gunpowder in the air and the souls of the fallen used to live among us. Their souls are still there. Despite all thats happened. We would be glad to see things stay this way and carry on. Weve made a lot of progress in the last few years whether in government or elsewhere theres been a change for the positive despite all our shortcomings but the International Community only talks about murdered children and Human Rights Violations in ghouta arent africans children human beings. What could be the long term impact of this dreadfully long war on people and why yaba. Well how Many American soldiers came home from vietnam that needed psychological care for many years we have thousands of wounded people here and hundreds died in our arms because we didnt have the medical means to save. People are plagued by the uncertainty of what about the americans. Will happen if they stay or leave. And those years have also taken their toll on him says dr amen as he shows us a photo. Of us much i guess when this was taken i thought about it its not even 8 years old and this is me today. But you think it was 20 or 30 years ago. Outside the hospital we meet again. As is commonly known was already past middle age back then but he too took up arms to join the fight against i. A. S. He saw action on a number of fronts including kabbani until its definitive liberation. It was there that we 1st met the man whod become our escort when entering neighborhoods that had been laid waste. Going it alone would have been taking a deadly risk. We arrived shortly after the fighting had ended the streets strewn jihad ists. And hidden mines such as this one images that would haunt us for some time. Conning is accompanying us to a hill on the outskirts of co bonnie to the place where we 1st met. But if you. Go to the kabbani becomes an example for the whole world so many of our friends have shed their blood for this earth and they continue to do so. Should be a symbol we want people from everywhere to be able to live together here. You want to live it. Always means destruction. Unfortunately the great powers always act according to their own interests. They take their proxy wars to our cities. And other places. We are against war i am a soldier but i am against war. We were forced to take up arms for our peace and security we have no love of bloodshed and war but unfortunately we had no choice. A lot of my comrades fell in the battle for. Today only 3 of them are still alive. I think everyone else was killed we were 174 fighters and now just 3 are alive. The kurds paid a high price for the liberation of 4. 00 yaba more than 21000. 00 injured and over 11000. 00 killed. In many places they remember the region is dotted with memorials to them. The a tautness government has given local women the use of a large building in kabbani 2 women have organized a range of projects including the womens refuge as such it is an educational institution. But staff also mediate it when problems arise with marriages families and local neighborhood issues. And how close are they all working against Domestic Violence and against polygamy we also want to ensure the tass sons and daughters have equal claims to inheritance is it and then they want to be shared equally between them instead of the sons getting preferential treatment but we also want to ensure that marriages involving young people under the age of 18 off a bit in. A visit to the city. But we dont want to do this by force we want to bring about change over time through education then look the most with the biggest so good whether young or old despite the danger posed by us women here are determined to defend their projects at all costs. There. The building located on a thoroughfare in kabbani is still under construction a temporary school was housed here in 2015 immediately after the end of the fighting. Children coming fall internally to the basement rooms was a symbol of hope at the time. 2 2 2 but it was hugely challenging for the pupils they were precious few books pens or pencils and often the heater had no oil. And. Now the proper owners of the buildings live here again. That young people would if you were to flee back them had lost everything. And we didnt lock the doors when we left. I thought if someone wants to break in theres no point in them damaging the door as well wolf. One of the. Difficult for us is that food is expensive. Not every job. Or someone. Unemployment is a major problem and or yaba which officially named itself the Autonomy Administration of north and east syria following the liberation of other areas from the us in 2018. But despite the manifold problems people here are inventive says she wrote. Theyve learned to live with hardship and make the most of their opportunities. He himself is installed in a special machine in the back of his van offering the best cappuccino anywhere in the area he boasts a range of coffee products in his drummed up a loyal clientele and next to no time his business is booming. Not far away is another street left as it was in 2015 locals are planning to set up a museum here to preserve the memory of the war i guess launched several attempts to break through here to turkey in order to control the border crossings. For the children the area has become a playground having lived through the war theyre now growing up in todays world yaba where we witnessed many new developments on our return. And many of the images well remember speaks volumes we were deeply impressed by how much the kurds have already managed to achieve despite the endless difficulties they are determined to expand on their model for yaba. Our journey ends where it began by the river tigris goods are still being moved across be a precarious looking pontoon bridges and the number of trucks is increasing again a symbol of optimism for iaapa say the kurds. Despite all the challenges facing them and despite the turkish embargo they now have reestablished trading links with the outside world. Bank and numerous more surveys in indias silicon valley. Is running out read the credits in recent years has created the most of crisis the city needs Sustainable Solutions and money. To revive an ancient tradition. Of. The. Good shape. Most people have a lot to look forward to. Thats when youre diagnosed with cancer ever since im told. Dr carson like talking to young people who are. Fighting back. And well learn about the latest developments in cancer treatment. In 30 minutes on d w. 77 percent lucky are younger than 6 ah. Thats me and me and. You know what its time all voices. The 77 percent who talk about the. Front part of the flash from housing boom boom boom town this is where. Welcome to the 77 percent. This weekend d w. 2 separate Mass Shootings in the u. S. Have left at least 29 people dead the latest took place in dayton in the state of ohio on early sunday morning local time police say 9 people were killed when a gunman opened fire in a bar in the city center more than a dozen were injured a Police Patrol was nearby and fatally shot the suspected shooter. The ohio attack comes less than a day after a mass shooting in the state of texas left 20 people dead and 2 dozen in