Precis

The search for foreign fighters in the ruins of Raqqa.

"That really was surreal...being in a house where so many notorious things happened." Reporter, Matt Brown.

For four long years Islamic State ruled its "caliphate" from its capital, the city of Raqqa. IS propaganda painted it as a pure paradise and extremists travelled from around the globe to join the terror group. From the outside, there were only glimpses of what life was really like.

Now the city is giving up its secrets.

"Driving into Raqqa, there's an eerie calm and breathtaking destruction as far as the eye can see." Reporter, Matt Brown.

On ABC Middle East correspondent Matt Brown goes on an intense journey into the city freed from Islamic State dictatorship.

"Every day there's explosions. You can hear from civilians going home, trying to reclaim their house, trying to pick up the pieces of what's left of their house." Anti-IS fighter

Everywhere there are reminders of the regime's brutality.

"They had large plasma TVs so that children would watch punishments, death and executions. That was mandatory." Raqqa resident

Emerging from the rubble, the survivors talk about the risks they took to defy Islamic State.

"Education under IS rule was forbidden...I secretly sent my younger children to a private teacher. We were afraid of course, very afraid. I just wanted them to learn how to read and write." Father

In the ruins lies evidence of the desperate attempts IS fighters took to disguise themselves as the city fell.

"That's IS beard hair. When they lost...they shaved their beards so no one would recognise them." Anti-IS fighter

In this city of ghosts, reporter Matt Brown goes in search of the foreign fighters who streamed into the area and makes a gripping discovery.

"Using the co-ordinates, I track our path as we close in." reporter, Matt Brown.

This riveting report is a tale of survival and resilience.

It's also the tale of two Australian fighters, on either side of one of the most barbaric conflicts we've seen in a generation.

On one side, Melbourne man Jamie Williams who travelled to Syria to fight against Islamic State.

On the other side: the notorious jihadist, Khaled Sharrouf who took his wife and children to make their home amidst the violence.

The story begins with Matt and cameraman Aaron Hollett's arrival on the edge of the city soon after it was liberated.

Sunrise. Brown in van driving into Raqqa

00:00

Raqqa. Destroyed buildings

MATT BROWN: Driving into Raqqa there's an eerie calm. And breathtaking destruction as far as the eye can see. A once thriving city of 260,000 people reduced to rubble by US-led airstrikes. It's hard to imagine it could ever return to what it was.

00:18

Music

00:41

Driving to Naim Square

MATT BROWN: Our first stop is the most notorious location in the city, Naim - or Heaven - Square. It was once the vibrant heart of Raqqa.

00:46

Truck driving into square

We meet a truck driver Khaled Sweila who shows us around.

KHALED SWEILA, TRUCK DRIVER: That's Heaven Square.

00:57

Brown walks with Khaled in Square of Heaven

It was called Square of Heaven, now it's Square of Hell. We used to love wandering around this place, but because of the killings we started hating it.

01:04

Spikes on fence

MATT BROWN: Khaled was among many forced to witness the beheadings that became the defining symbol of the IS era.

KHALED SWEILA : Here in this square,

01:17

Brown walks with Khaled in Square of Heaven

IS would chop the heads off and stick heads onto these all around the square.

01:26

Here they would execute people, because whatever you did, you'd be punished. They would terrorize people with that.

MATT BROWN: The propaganda videos of those killings horrified many

01:33

around the world. This is where Raqqa's children were forced to watch.

01:48

KHALED SWEILA: Here they had large plasma TVs so that children would watch punishments, death and executions. Plasma TVs were everywhere, can you see the seats? That was mandatory.

01:54

Super: KHALED SWEILA

The children would be afraid if they saw a chicken killed, after a while they wouldn't even care if humans were executed. That was our life, it was hell.

02:12

Brown in van driving through Raqqa

Music

02:28

MATT BROWN: As we go deeper into the city, the overwhelming scale of the destruction becomes clearer. Yet we see signs that life is returning.

02:39

Bulldozer clears rubble

In Raqqa's east bulldozers are at work, clearing the roads. The rest seems like an enormous, even impossible, task.

02:54

Wasna clearing rubble from home

Amid the rubble, I meet Wasna Ahmad el Mohammad. She and her brother are painstakingly salvaging what's left of the family home and grocery store.

03:07

WASNA AHMAD EL MOHAMMAD: I wouldn't be able to get to even 1% of the way things were before,

03:19

Wasna interview

but I will live and continue building again. I will open a new grocery shop and live the rest of my life.

03:29

Neighbours with new bricks

MATT BROWN: -Across the road, they're selling new bricks, but Wasna can't afford them. She's a widow with six children. During the war that made her an easy target for Islamic State, but they picked on the wrong woman.

03:41

Wasna clearing rubble

WASNA AHMAD EL MOHAMMAD: They would come to me and tell me to leave the house but I wouldn't.  They occupied our neighbour's house and made it their headquarters.

03:58

Wasna interview

I believe they killed the house owner, yes, he was killed. They said he was a regime thug and killed him. But we didn't leave our house, we refused.

04:10

Wasna piles cushions and carpet in courtyard

MATT BROWN: IS fighters told Wasna to shut down her shop and remarry or live off Islamic charity

04:25

Wasna interview

WASNA AHMAD EL MOHAMMAD : They warned me and after I refused to obey three times they threatened to take me to the religious police. I told them if I leave the shop door, I will break that stick on your head. I'd rather fire a bullet into my head than leave my shop.

04:34

Wasna beating dust from cushions and carpet in courtyard

MATT BROWN: When she stood her ground, an IS fighter hit her.

WASNA AHMAD EL MOHAMMAD: They came to the shop and told me to go with them to the religious police.

04:54

Wasna interview

I asked them why? Because I refused to close my shop? I told him that if you were a real man you wouldn't hit a woman. Why did you slap me?

05:04

Wasna in courtyard

MATT BROWN: Wasna's bravery is remarkable and she still struggles with what she endured.

05:15

Wasna interview

WASNA AHMAD EL MOHAMMAD: What more can I say? They mistreated us, what can I say? Only God can help us. When they came here, they brought only chaos and destruction with them.

05:53

We were waiting for the day to get our freedom back in Raqqa. We were waiting for our freedom. We were hoping for that night and day. We were waiting for this freedom day.

05:41

Wasna carries broken TV

MATT BROWN: The terrible irony is that after Wasna fought so hard - and risked so much - it was a US-led airstrike that destroyed the family business.

06:04

Wasna interview

WASNA AHMAD EL MOHAMMAD: When the airstrike hit, I was suddenly thrown across the room. I couldn't hear anymore. I was hit by the shrapnel, I took off my tunic so that it wouldn't hurt me. After the smoke cleared we all went to the streets.

06:15

Wasna kisses children

06:37

MATT BROWN: Under Islamic State rule, her biggest fear was for her children - especially her eldest daughter.

06:47

Wasna with daughter

WASNA AHMAD EL MOHAMMAD: I feared that IS would see her, because she is pretty. I wouldn't let her out. Even when I had to take my daughters to their aunts or uncles, they would be in full Sharia outfit and I wouldn't let anyone see their faces.

06:53

They sent women to our house to ask if we had girls for marriage.

07:17

Wasna interview

We said no we had none. We refused.

07:23

Wasna walks with children, visits father

MATT BROWN: The children are sheltering in a village outside the city with her father who's desperately ill. Despite all her problems this extraordinary woman is looking forward to a new era.

07:28

WASNA AHMAD EL MOHAMMED: All the people are afraid, women and men, they are still afraid from IS.

07:45

Wasna interview

Let IS take a look at me face-to-face. If there is still one of them still living on earth. Let him see Wasna. Let him see me. I'm not afraid of him, whoever he is. Even if he's going to come from underground? Let him come over. Let IS rot and the ones who brought IS rot with them. I am not afraid from no one, IS or anyone else.

07:51

Shots of spent shells and city destruction

Music

08:20

MATT BROWN: Wherever you look, in Raqqa, it's a disaster zone and explosives are everywhere.

08:25

Homemade bombs lying in street

We find a mortar and a tray of homemade bombs just lying around.

08:32

Drone shots of city destruction

Mines and booby traps litter the city claiming new casualties every day.

08:39

Wounded man in back of truck

[Siren]

08:46

Wounded Kurdish men

MATT BROWN: As we drive through Raqqa's south, a pickup truck races ahead of us carrying the latest victims. We follow them to a clinic. The wounded men are from the Kurdish dominated militia that liberated the city with the help of US airstrikes.

08:53

EYEWITNESS: There was a car with four soldiers, they drove on a mine.

09:15

Eyewitness

The car overturned. We rescued two and two still remain inside.

09:18

Médecins Sans Frontières assist wounded

Music

09:22

Jamie searching alley

JAMIE WILLIAMS: OK I'm just keeping an eye on everything... Yeah there could be a fresh one in this rubble with a laser or something dude.

09:35

MATT BROWN: In the midst of all this we find an Australian.

09:51

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Do you want to wheel it out to me? I need to clean this rope up a bit.

MATT BROWN: Jamie Williams is among a group of foreigners in the Kurdish forces. Now the fighting's finished, they're helping with the clean-up.

[Boom in distance]

JAMIE WILLIAMS: That's another mine.

RADIO: You guys alright?

09:56

BIEBER:  Yeah we're good That wasn't us, no worries over.

10:19

Unexploded shell in rubble

MATT BROWN: They find an unexploded shell in the rubble by the road.

10:24

JAMIE WILLIAMS: We've got what looks like an artillery round that's partially covered in rubble.

10:27

Brown with Jamie and Bieber

MATT BROWN: On the path we just walked on?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: On the path we just walked on, yes. So we're going to hook it with the rope and take a safe position and just give it a tug.

10:33

Jamie uses rope to attempt to detonate artillery

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Fuck, it’s not going to budge.

BIEBER: You knocked the rubble with it. (sounds like)

10:40

Jamie picks up mortar

MATT BROWN: It's a painstakingly slow business. After several attempts the mortar is pulled free. It can now be dumped elsewhere.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Between the mines

10:56

Jamie coiling rope

and the unexploded ordnances, they'll be working on this place for years, I think.

11:07

Jamie with colleague

MATT BROWN: Jamie Williams came here in April last year to fight IS.

11:13

JAMIE WILLIAMS: I always wanted to be in the military, yeah. Growing up, watching war movies, playing with toy guns, all that sort of stuff, yeah.

11:22

Jamie interview. Super:
JAMIE WILLIAMS

I always admired the people, the soldiers, that put themselves in difficult situations. You know, willing to put their life on the line for the betterment of others.

11:29

Brown with Jamie into building

MATT BROWN: Been here long?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Been here maybe a week or two.

11:40

Brown with Jamie climb stairs

MATT BROWN: It’s a long way up.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Yeah, no elevators here. So just

11:48

Shoes off outside apartment

take your shoes off.

MATT BROWN: So this is home?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Yeah for now.

11:53

Into apartment

11:57

Please take a seat.

12:03

Jamie show captured mines

JAMIE WILLIAMS: This is a directional anti-personnel mine

12:06

MATT BROWN: He's staying here with a handful of other western fighters.

12:09

JAMIE WILLIAMS: This was just hidden under a piece of material. It's got ball bearings in it. One of these ball bearings could rip straight through you, they do a lot of damage.

12:12

We have lost one person, a member of our team that was with us when we were doing mining. But yeah, he wasn't actually trying to disable a mine himself, yeah, it was just unfortunate.

MATT BROWN: He triggered one that was in the area?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Yeah.

MATT BROWN : When was that ?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: That was on the 25th of this month, so not too long ago.

12:20

Brown with Jamie looking at ordnance

JAMIE WILLIAMS: All these decimate the civilian population. Every day there's explosions. You can hear from civilians going home, trying to reclaim their house., trying to pick up the pieces of what's left of their house.

12:47

Jamie dons gear

MATT BROWN: Australian counter-terrorism authorities have been monitoring Jamie Williams for a long time. When he first tried to come to Syria in late 2014 he was stopped at Melbourne airport, then charged with crimes that could have seen him sentenced to life in prison. Without offering an explanation, the Federal Government dropped the prosecution

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Good to go.

13:01

Brown and Jamie into van

JAMIE WILLIAMS: We can show you a position where we were fighting.

MATT BROWN: He made it here for the final battle for Raqqa.

13:25

Driving sequence

JAMIE WILLIAMS: It was pretty full on. The whole fight in Raqqa push block by block the lines were constantly changing. It was hard for the YPG, the SDF forces to keep track of where the lines were.

13:31

Shots of destruction. Brown walks with Jamie

MATT BROWN: In 2011, Jamie Williams tried to join the Australian Army, but was knocked back because of a drink driving conviction. So, he joined the French Foreign Legion instead.

13:45

JAMIE WILLIAMS: I got combat training. I learnt explosives. I was trained as a squad marksman, so sniper rifle training.

13:59

Jamie interview

It gave me confidence in what I was doing here.

14:08

Brown with Jamie on street

JAMIE WILLIAMS:  Going through here, if you guys are OK with it. Just follow my footsteps pretty much.

MATT BROWN: In Raqqa he says, Kurdish commanders kept foreign fighters away from the front line.

14:12

Jamie and Brown into building and up stairs

He takes us to the scene of their only real battle with IS, which is known in Arabic as Da'esh.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Where I've moved all the dust just step where that is.

MATT BROWN: This is where his team was ordered to move through the block of flats and control the street beyond.

14:21

Jamie and Brown at hole

JAMIE WILLIAMS:  So we got to this position and they pointed over and said this hole here, that's a Da'esh hole, go for it.

MATT BROWN: So you had to go through that hole?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Yeah.

MATT BROWN: Not knowing what was on the other side?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Yeah.

14:40

Brown and Jamie up stairs

MATT BROWN: The mission didn't go to plan.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: We got ambushed, within five metres we took fire from and about another 10 to 15 metres across the road

14:52

Jamie interview

one of our guys got hit in that exchange.

15:03

Brown and Jami on to roof

MATT BROWN: Their colleague was killed. The team was forced to hole up here trying to work out how to get his body out.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: And it was when we were here we were getting the radio communications saying that

15:06

they were coming from here from the front, from everywhere. So we were on that level, all of us who were there at that stage thinking, shit how do we defend this place?

15:18

And we took fire from that hole in the wall there into this room here where these guys were perched up. As soon as they took fire from there they opened up with big CAK's pretty sure they gave him a good fright, hopefully they hit him.

15:27

Brown and Jami in stairwell

MATT BROWN: They were stuck here all night.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Anytime I heard any movement any scuffling or anything underneath me, I'd pick up a grenade, get it ready, stick the rifle over, shoot down the stairs a couple of rounds, 4 or 5 rounds, pull the pin, throw the grenade down.

MATT BROWN: And these are the pins that you'd left behind?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Yeah, they were on the stairs here.

15:43

Brown holds grenade pins

Yeah should be a few more around somewhere. I think I threw maybe half a dozen grenades from this staircase.

16:06

Building exterior with shelling damage

MATT BROWN: US-led airstrikes saved their lives.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: There was AC-130 gunfire which was bombarding the whole area,

16:15

Jamie and Brown in building

one big half circle around us. There was a lot of fire for quite a while, which was comforting because you know, you know they've got our back. But at the same time, it was worrying because they only hit targets that they can see, so knowing that they're shooting that much, that just says there was that many targets in the area for them to hit.

16:25

Drone shot. Brown and Jamie on roof

MATT BROWN: Under Australian law Jamie Williams could be jailed for entering a banned area and being a foreign fighter.

16:44

Drone shots over Raqqa

But he argues fighting for the Kurds is not a crime, because they are in effect, the government in this part of Syria.

16:57

JAMIE WILLIAMS: I don't think I've done anything wrong here. I've supported the good guys in this fight, I would say, you know?

17:05

Jamie interview. Super:
JAMIE WILLIAMS

Da'esh is the enemy of the world. The Kurds are going to be a good system. They're going to be good for this region. They need the Kurds here. They need their system. They need democracy. So I don't, I don't think I've done anything wrong.

17:13

Brown and Jami walk in Raqqa

MATT BROWN: There were other Australians on the battlefield. They were fighting for IS.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: That's part of the reason I came here, is to find,

17:26

Jamie interview

to kill any Australia Da'esh that I could. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, but, um, yeah, I would have loved to have caught one of those guys.

17:38

Still. Khaled Sharrouf

MATT BROWN: The most notorious was Khaled Sharrouf, a convicted terrorist who shot to global

17:49

Still. Child holding severed head

infamy for posting photos of his son holding a severed head.

17:54

Euphrates River

Sharrouf and his family lived in Raqqa and I want to find out more about their lives here.

MATT BROWN TO CAMERA: I worked out where

17:59

Brown to camera on bank of Euphrates River. Super:
MATT BROWN

Khaled Sharrouf was living back in 2015 when some Yazidi girls he'd been keeping as domestic slaves escaped. I interviewed them and they showed me some mobile phone pictures they'd taken of the outside of his house which allowed me to pinpoint the location on Google Earth. I'm keen to see what's become of the place but to get there we have to cross the Euphrates River.

18:09

Crossing Euphrates

MATT BROWN: With the bridges blown, this is the only way to get across. Jamie Williams and his team come along. We have no idea if IS sympathisers are still hanging around, and Syrian Government forces are about 15 kilometres away so we need to get across the river and back as quickly as possible.

18:32

Bogged van

On the way, our van takes a wrong turn.

19:06

Brown in van

Using the co-ordinates, I track our path as we close in. Soon a key landmark - a water tower - comes into view.

19:19

Brown out of van at Sharrouf’s home

MATT BROWN : That's it, definitely the house Sharrouf was living in.

19:30

Neighbour with Brown

A neighbour emerges and confirms, we're in the right place.

MATT BROWN: Sharrouf, Sharrouf?

NEIGHBOUR: Sharrouf.

MATT BROWN: Libnani, Australi.

NEIGHBOUR: Australi!

MATT BROWN: He was.

19:40

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA, SHARROUF'S FORMER NEIGHBOUR: He was a bit like me, big like me, the same height. I know that because we had a scuffle.

19:52

He forced his way into homes here, I held him at his door.

20:00

MATT BROWN: Abdel Aziz Bin Khalafa remembers Sharrouf as a grandstanding thug.

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA: He was playing it big, being a IS executive, the Islamic State and so on.

20:06

Even here, that neighbour, he got into his house and humiliated him and even wanted to execute him.

20:18

Abdel Aziz unlocks padlock on gate. Brown into property

MATT BROWN: Abdel Aziz offers an unprecedented insight into Sharrouf's life here.

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA: We never liked each other Sharrouf and I.

20:27

Brown and Abdel Aziz

Whenever he would step outside here, as soon as he'd see me, he'd carry his weapons and fire in the air as if he wanted to make a point, "I am here and I have weapons".

20:42

Sharrouf family photos

MATT BROWN: Sharrouf, lived in the house with his wife Tara Nettleton and their five children.

20:54

Stills. Sharrouf children with guns

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA: Sharrouf's children were very tough. They were chaotic, very chaotic.

20:59

Brown and Abdel Aziz at Sharrouf former home looking at shooting range

They had a shooting range here. He bought them guns and lots of ammunition.

21:09

Here were their targets.

21:16

They had drawn people, take a look at that.

21:20

Abdel Aziz and Brown in house

MATT BROWN: While years have passed, the house still feels haunted by the tragedy of this family's life.

21:24

Brown and Abdel Aziz with child’s clothing

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA: Yes, It's for Sharrouf's children, that's For Sharrouf's Children.

MATT BROWN : Just little kids.

21:34

Brown and Abdel Aziz walk through house

There are traces of children everywhere.

21:43

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA: That's what Sharrouf's children used to wear. That's a very small size. The small one would wear that, and that too was for the little one.

21:51

MATT BROWN: While the world saw images of them wielding weapons, their neighbours saw children who seemed terribly isolated in their new land.

22:03

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA: They hardly understood Arabic, it was hard for them. Sometimes we had the feeling that they didn't understand us.

22:13

Brown and Abdel Aziz outside house

They would ask many questions about the purpose of everything. They tried to learn but they didn't know how to engage. If you asked them about something, they wouldn't answer.

22:21

House interior/Water tower

MATT BROWN: Abdel Aziz confirms this is where Sharrouf kept the Yazidi girls who'd been kidnaped from northern Iraq.

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA: He took them from their parents, what he did was extremely wrong. He left them here imprisoned.

22:35

Abdel Aziz

He wouldn't even let them out here in the courtyard. We would see them from afar, at the window, all frightened, surely afraid that he'd spot them from a distance.

22:49

Archival. Yazidi story

MATT BROWN: I tracked down the Yazidi girls three years ago in northern Iraq. One of them told me how Sharrouf's wife, Tara hated life in Raqqa.

23:08

Super: 2015

YAZIDI WOMAN His wife said she regretted going there, that she didn't knew what her husband was doing before she arrived. She said, "It's a miserable place. This religion is so bad. If I knew about this I would never have come here". His wife prayed all day for her husband to be martyred so that they could return home.

23:18

Brown with Yazidi woman at computer

MATT BROWN: They also told me it was Tara who helped them escape, by giving them a mobile phone to call their families.

23:37

YAZIDI WOMAN:  She couldn't show her kindness towards us in front of her husband. It was secret.

23:44

She prayed for us to be released and advised us to escape in secret. She said, "If my husband knew anything about what I am doing for you, he would punish me".

23:50

Sharrouf house

MATT BROWN: Abdel Aziz remembers what happened when the girls escaped.

24:01

Abdel Aziz

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA: The religious police from IS came and asked about them saying that there were Yazidi girls who escaped from here and accused us of hiding them. We told him that we didn't know about that, but if it happened, the Yazidi girls wouldn't come to us.

24:07

Sharrouf house and water tower

MATT BROWN: Sharrouf's neighbours often complained to IS about his behaviour, and eventually IS moved against him.

24:21

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA: They posted an IS supervisor to monitor him. Even I saw him. At 2am, two cars came by, we could call them security cars. They took him at 2am. We heard screaming at 1 or 2am, it was loud. They argued heavily here in the building.

24:29

Drone shot. Sharrouf house and water tower

MATT BROWN: Sharrouf's life in the house had come to an end.

24:56

Still. Sharrouf

ABDEL AZIZ BIN KHALAFA: The very last time I saw him it was at the eye doctor.

25:01

Abdel Aziz

When he saw me, I was registering my name with the nurse and she told me to wait my turn. He came up to me surprised and stepped back like this. He was afraid of me because IS was losing ground.

25:09

Still. Sharrouf standing by jeep/Sharrouf children

MATT BROWN: Khaled Sharrouf was reportedly killed - along with two of his sons - in a US

25:27

Satellite pictures

Coalition airstrike near Raqqa in August last year. Tara Nettleton is believed to have died after surgery for appendicitis in September 2015. The fate of the other children is unclear.

25:34

Abdel Aziz and Brown leave Sharrouf house

MATT BROWN TO CAMERA: That really was surreal,

25:49

Brown to camera in car

being in a house where so many notorious things happened, and in the end like the Islamic State group itself it's all come to nothing

25:59

Driving shots. Raqqa

Music

26:09

Driving through Raqqa

MATT BROWN: And where are we going now?

26:29

Brown and Jamie Williams in car

JAMIE WILLIAMS: We're headed down to the stadium which was one of the last points held by Da'esh before they surrendered.

26:32

Raqqa football stadium

MATT BROWN: The football stadium in the heart of Raqqa is where IS inflicted terrible punishments on its prisoners.

26:38

Brown and Jamie at football stadium

JAMIE WILLIAMS: They spent most of their time in the guts of this building so we'll go in and check it out, some of the tunnels and whatnot they have. They've sandbagged it up pretty good, so we'll go through here to the left, behind these sandbags.

MATT BROWN: We're going down here?

JAMIE WILLIAMS:  Yeah.

MATT BROWN: For IS, this served as a sort of underground base.

26:50

Brown walks with Jamie under stadium in shooting range

MATT BROWN: What was this?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: This was a shooting range, you can see they've knocked holes in the walls all the way down. And they've got pieces of paper, these are all bullet holes. Even though they were pretty much secluded underground, they were still able to do training and become more effective at killing people, basically.

27:06

Jamie and Brown at tunnel

MATT BROWN: It's even equipped with secret tunnels.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: This is one of the Da'esh tunnels they used.

MATT BROWN: Ten metres deep?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Yeah, probably about ten metres and there's a hole in the end that shoots off in that direction. I haven't been down there personally; all these tunnels will most definitely be mined.

MATT BROWN: A tunnel like this would mean that

27:40

maybe they could get in behind wherever you were and come up behind you?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Yeah, that's why whenever we had a line that was the forward main threat position, you always had to be watching your rear as well, because, yeah, they could pop up anywhere at any time.

28:00

Brown and Jamie continue  through building

MATT BROWN: Most of these rooms were used as a prison and torture chamber.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: It's been explained to me that

28:18

Sewer cell

this was a form of punishment in the sewer. They would put prisoners here as a form of punishment. It's called a jamuka in Arabic. I'm sure it was pretty unpleasant being stuck down there for who knows how long.

MATT BROWN: Especially when they could put the lid on top of you and just keep you in the dark.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Yeah, you'd be there in pitch black. Nothing but the stink.

28:28

Brown walks with Ismail

MATT BROWN: Ismail Abu Sabaah, another member of the anti IS militia, tells me what he endured here. He was detained for six weeks and tortured for days on end.

28:48

ISMAIL ABU SABAAH, ANTI IS MILITIA: They took a green plumbing pipe and they beat me on the back, on the stomach, legs and I was shouting out loud. You know, shouting out loud.

29:05

Ismail explains beatings and torture

I spent two days here.

MATT BROWN: Two days!

ISMAIL ABU SABAAH : I spent two days here , two days I stayed here.

29:16

They handcuffed me like that, they hung me up there. They took the green plumbing pipe and they beat me hard. On my back, all over my body. They would focus on the parts with muscles so that the person wouldn't be able to move anymore.

MATT BROWN:  From here?

ISMAIL ABU SABAAH: Like that you see, they hung me up there and I spent 5 to 6 days hung up.

29:25

A lot of people were tortured so much that they'd say their dad was Bashar al-Assad, it doesn't matter who my father is as long as I get out of here. Many died from torture.

29:56

Torture room

MATT BROWN: This is a bed frame where IS applied electric shocks to prisoners

30:12

ISMAIL ABU SABAAH: Here was the torture room. They would undress the person and leave him with shorts and a shirt. They would lie him down here and they would attach electric wires. A wire here. He would be electrified.

30:18

MATT BROWN: Women were also held here. Ismail caught just a brief glimpse but, of course, he could hear them.

30:33

ISMAIL ABU SABAAH: When we were in our cell, we'd hear the yelling of women from torture and beatings. IS used disrespectful words calling them "bitches" and "prostitutes". Very bad words.

30:39

Ismail and Brown continue and look at graffiti

MATT BROWN: Even the graffiti has a radical bent.

ISMAIL ABU SABAAH: Here you have a drawing of a car, it's a suicide bomber. He wants to drive a car and explode himself. Here you have snipers.

30:58

Aerial. Raqqa

Music

31:20

MATT BROWN: For all their dreams of jihad, IS was under siege in the stadium.

31:23

Ismail and Brown walk in stadium

And there are signs of the measures they took to disguise themselves and escape.

31:29

ISMAIL ABU SABAAH: That's IS beard hair. When they lost against SDF, they shaved their beards so no one would recognise them. Yes, that's IS beard.

31:34

Destroyed buildings

Music

31:55

MATT BROWN: The battle for Raqqa ended here, not with a crushing defeat of IS, but a controversial deal.

32:04

Jamie and Brown walk along street

Music

32:11

JAMIE WILLIAMS: This building here was the last nokta we had, so we had a guard on this balcony here on the corner, that could see down that street.

32:14

MATT BROWN: Jamie Williams and his team were watching as the jihadists prepared for a negotiated escape.

JAMIE WILLIAMS: We could see through the binoculars Da'esh guys coming out of buildings and popping up from all over the place

32:22

Jamie and Brown on street

congregating in the roundabout, the open area down there. And we were told we got the orders over the radio, don't shoot. Just basically don't shoot. If you see any Da'esh, you know. Don't shoot, wait.

32:37

Archival. IS members board trucks and leave city

MATT BROWN: A secret deal was done between the US backed forces and Islamic State to let hundreds of hard core fighters and their families leave the city.

32:49

JAMIE WILLIAMS: That's extremely frustrating for us. They were allowed to walk out, to go fight another day somewhere else.

33:05

Brown and Jami on street

Super: JAMIE WILLIAMS

MATT BROWN: So how do you feel that in the end they did get away?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Pissed, to be honest. Yeah. They're, they're sneaky. They had that card up their sleeve and they played it well.

33:10

Jamie walks among rubble

MATT BROWN: For Jamie Williams, this war is coming to an end.

33:20

Jamie

MATT BROWN: Do you plan on going back to Australia?

JAMIE WILLIAMS Sometime, yeah.

MATT BROWN: Are you worried you'll be arrested?

JAMIE WILLIAMS: Um, not so much worried, but I would say, you know, slightly concerned, yeah. Of course, they'll be interested in questioning me. 100%.

33:27

Aerials. Raqqa

Music

33:42

MATT BROWN: The people of Raqqa are still dealing with the war's deadly legacy. There are so many hidden mines the task of clearing them is daunting.

33:46

Kurdish demining team

Music

33:56

MATT BROWN:  The men of this Kurdish demining team, led by Abdul Hamid Ayu, spend every day, risking their lives trying to make the city safe.

34:01

ABDUL HAMID AYU, KURDISH DEMINING TEAM: According to the information we've been given, all this zone is dangerous and mined.

34:11

IS didn't leave any house without mining it.

34:16

Demining team at work

MATT BROWN: Their equipment is basic. Some metal detectors and a long length of rope. They could be blown up any second.

34:25

ABDUL HAMID AYU: Our lives are in danger. The city was the capital for IS,

34:34

Abdul Hamid

so there might be sleeper cells and mines with remote control devices.

34:41

Drone shots of team member detonating mine

MATT BROWN: They're so calm, disarming explosives seems almost routine. It's not long before they find a mine. They've removed the detonator. The fear is it could still be booby trapped and they pull it from a safe distance. If it had gone off it could have killed anyone within 50 metres.

34:48

Team examines antipersonnel mine

The explosives come in all shapes and size. This is a small antipersonnel mine.

35:19

TEAM MEMBER: That was the direction, they put it in this way

35:27

MATT BROWN: The trigger is a thin wire, studded with little switches that connect under pressure.

35:33

DEMINING TEAM MEMBER: They put the tripwire out this way. when you step it, it will explode.

MATT BROWN: The bomb itself is a tightly packed load of explosives, behind a layer of ball bearings.

35:38

DEMINING TEAM MEMBER: If someone touches or steps on this device, he and anyone close by would be killed instantly.

35:50

Team members search for mines

MATT BROWN: The greatest horror is that IS is targeting civilians, even children.

ABDUL HAMID AYU: They thought we wouldn't realise where they'd hidden the mines.

36:00

Abdul Hamid

IS put mines in the kids' games, in fridges and under pillows.

36:10

Team members search for mines

MATT BROWN: Hamid has already seen several of his colleagues killed.

ABDUL HAMID AYU: It's difficult for you, when a mine explodes and kills five of your friends who had worked with you .

36:18

Abdul Hamid

How in a moment you lose a friend who works with you, and see his corpse on the ground. You almost stop breathing.

36:31

Team members carry mines

MATT BROWN: Despite the tragedy they continue their work, and on this mission, in the space of just half an hour, they collect a small arsenal.

36:40

ABDUL HAMID AYU: The goal of our comrades was to remove the mines to save the people.

36:51

Abdul Hamid

They may be gone but we will stay to remove all the mines.

36:56

Drone shots.  Raqqa

Music

37:00

MATT BROWN: There's almost no help here from the international community. The people of Raqqa are doing it for themselves.

37:20

Their defiance in the face of tyranny and their determination to bounce back are inspiring.

37:31

Brown walks with Khoreish to bombed house

KHALIL KHOREISH : That's my house and here I had three flats that were destroyed by airstrikes but thank God, the little children are safe. We will build here; the mother and the little children are safe and we brought them here.

37:42

Family on rooftop

Khalil Khoreish has lost almost all he has, but he's still counting his blessings.

38:04

MATT BROWN: What did you think when you first saw this?

38:11

Khalil. Super:
KHALIL KHOREISH

KHALIL KHOREISH : Thank God, the children are fine. It can be rebuilt, what was damaged will be replaced. Thanks to God. Each child is priceless and we are fine. Thanks to God.

38:14

Khalil and family in house

Khalil and his wife Fatimah look forward to sending their children back to school. Under IS just getting an education could be deadly.

FATIMAH ABED DANDEL: Education under IS rule was forbidden. They wanted people to be ignorant.

38:31

Fatimah interview. Super:
FATIMAH ABED DANDEL

Five female university students were walking back home. They were captured and we heard they were beheaded.

38:55

Khalil with family

KHALIL KHOREISH: Schools were shut down, children were wasting their time. I secretly sent my younger children to a private teacher. They would go in the morning and after 2 or 3 hours, they'd come back.

39:04

Khalil interview

We were very afraid of course, very afraid. I just wanted them to learn how to read and write and thanks to God they learned. My duty is to teach them as much as I can so that they can do what they want.

39:26

Children help Fatimah and Khalil clear rubble from shop

MATT BROWN: Khalil and Fatimah are determined to reopen their shop selling windows and doors.

39:41

FATIMAH ABED DANDEL: Come on boys, come on, we need to finish, come on.

39:52

Come on Abdallah, come on Abdallah, remove it. Remove it with your hands Idriss..

40:01

KHALIL KHOREISH: Abdallah, Abdallah give it to me. Come closer with the bucket. Come on, come on.

MATT BROWN: It's the kind of resilience that offers a glimmer of hope for this city. Above all else they want a little normalcy and dignity back in their lives.

40:09

Holes in roof and walls

Music

40:30

Fatimah stands in house

FATIMAH ABED DANDEL: It's freezing, we need fuel, water, power.

40:33

Fatimah interview

International countries should help us. The dead are dead but the people still alive are almost like dead.

40:40

Children

Music

40:48

Residents in Raqqa

KHALIL KHOREISH: We want Raqqa as it used to be, with the schools, the hospitals

40:56

Khalil

and all the normal life like before.

41:06

Khalil interview

For the people to love each other again, cherish each other again. We want it back the way it used to be.

41:11

Drone shot.  Khalil and Fatimah and  building with side missing

Music

41:19

Credits

41:38

Outpoint after credits

42:02