Browse content similar to Stacey on the Frontline: Girls, Guns and Isis. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
This programme contains some strong language | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
and scenes which some viewers may find disturbing. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:07 | |
THEY SHOUT IN UNISON | 0:00:28 | 0:00:29 | |
A battalion of Yazidi women are getting ready to fight Isis, | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
and I'm going with them. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:34 | |
The Yazidi girls were kept in halls, they were tortured, | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
they were raped, they were abused. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:39 | |
You can now see these same girls sat in the back of a truck | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
with their guns, driving head-on, straight towards Isis. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:46 | |
These women are survivors of the worst war crime of recent history. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:50 | |
Their homes have been destroyed. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
More than 3,000 of their mothers, sisters, | 0:00:57 | 0:00:59 | |
aunts and nieces are still captive behind the Isis lines. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
It's time for revenge. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:08 | |
Somebody has left their rifle. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:09 | |
'Isis fighters need to pass this front line | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
'to escape from Mosul to Syria.' | 0:01:14 | 0:01:16 | |
ARTILLERY FIRES Fucking hell! | 0:01:16 | 0:01:18 | |
Oh, my God! | 0:01:18 | 0:01:19 | |
'They may try to take captured Yazidi women with them | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
'as human shields.' | 0:01:22 | 0:01:24 | |
So now we're in a situation where both sides seem to be shooting. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:28 | |
'I've come to northern Iraq to tell the story of these amazing women | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
'who have overcome the unthinkable to fight Isis on the front line.' | 0:01:32 | 0:01:36 | |
For the next two weeks I'm going to live with a unit of Yazidi women | 0:01:43 | 0:01:47 | |
as they prepare to be called to the front line to fight Isis. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
The Yazidi are peaceful people who have never gone to war before, | 0:01:51 | 0:01:55 | |
but now they are having to take arms. | 0:01:55 | 0:01:58 | |
One wrong turning, and we'll be in Mosul, | 0:01:58 | 0:02:01 | |
that's Isis-controlled territory. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:03 | |
So because of the nature of what we're going to be filming | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
over the next couple of weeks, | 0:02:06 | 0:02:07 | |
we've got a tracker, so every time we're in the car, | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
and we're on the road, London can see where we're going. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
This is a really large city in Kurdistan, | 0:02:14 | 0:02:17 | |
controlled entirely by Isis. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:19 | |
There are an estimated 800,000 Yazidis in the world. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:25 | |
But almost all of them live in this part of Iraq. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:28 | |
Their religion is not Christian or Muslim, they worship their own gods. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:34 | |
Isis have performed more vicious brutality towards them | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
than any other religious minority. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:40 | |
STACEY CHUCKLES | 0:02:40 | 0:02:42 | |
They're thinking, "Who is this strange white girl? | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
"Who is this crazy British girl?" | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
Captain. My boss. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
Hello. How are you? Nice to meet you. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:55 | |
'I'm going to stay here with the girls for one night.' | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
The girls are finishing their training today. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:04 | |
Tomorrow we're moving to the base near the front line. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:11 | |
It's the strongest four girls that do the toughest exercises. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:20 | |
These girls were captured by Isis. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
17-year-old Nadia is one of them. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
How long were you kept by Isis? | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
She's not really sure. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:47 | |
It's very difficult. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:51 | |
Wow! | 0:04:03 | 0:04:05 | |
You're not scared that you... you may be killed? | 0:04:06 | 0:04:09 | |
"No, I will defend my country." | 0:04:16 | 0:04:19 | |
'It's so shocking, | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
'a 17-year-old girl saying she's ready to die to fight these people. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:28 | |
'The kinds of things all these girls must have been through | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
'to make them this determined. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:33 | |
'It's not long before I find out from their commander | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
'the sort of atrocities the Yazidis have experienced.' | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
You OK? | 0:05:39 | 0:05:40 | |
The emotion... | 0:05:44 | 0:05:45 | |
..within that woman, and actually in the whole room... | 0:05:46 | 0:05:50 | |
it was just so...moving. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
And the horror stories that these girls come out with. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
It's beyond belief. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
'That story the mother told Khatoon turned her into a soldier | 0:06:02 | 0:06:06 | |
'and eventually the founder of this battalion of Yazidi women | 0:06:06 | 0:06:09 | |
'being trained by the Peshmerga. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
'We're in the middle of a war zone, | 0:06:12 | 0:06:14 | |
'so it's not easy to verify these horrific ordeals. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:17 | |
'But I've already heard so much about the raping, | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
'starving and killing of children in front of their mothers.' | 0:06:20 | 0:06:24 | |
Somebody has left their rifle. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:26 | |
Do you know, it almost feels a bit like a summer camp? | 0:06:29 | 0:06:31 | |
All the giggling. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
Listening to music. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
Plaiting each other's hair. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:37 | |
You can almost forget that these... | 0:06:39 | 0:06:40 | |
..are women who are training to go on the front line and kill Isis. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:46 | |
That... That is the reality. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:48 | |
WOMEN LAUGH | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
Hi. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
A mosquito... WOMEN SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE | 0:06:57 | 0:07:00 | |
Yeah, I know. I can't take... | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
'So, geared up, | 0:07:07 | 0:07:08 | |
'ready to spend my first night here at their training camp. | 0:07:08 | 0:07:12 | |
'Honestly, I'm... feeling quite overwhelmed. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:16 | |
'I perhaps underestimated...' | 0:07:16 | 0:07:17 | |
..the ruthlessness and the pure evil... | 0:07:19 | 0:07:22 | |
..that seems to exist here. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:26 | |
And I think what this does, is it gives you an insight into | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
what life has been like for these Yazidi women. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
I really like the girls. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:35 | |
I just can't wait to spend more time with them. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
Wish me luck in my bunk bed! | 0:07:39 | 0:07:40 | |
I haven't slept in one in a long time. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
I'm hoping not to roll off the top in the middle of the night! | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
For the girls every day starts at half five. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:00 | |
THEY SING | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
To leave? | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
We must pack. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
So right now, this is us. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
Faysh Khabur. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
Basically, we need to make our way to the second training camp, | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
and this is where the girls will wait | 0:08:35 | 0:08:37 | |
until they're called to join the front line. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:39 | |
Snuny, the training camp we'll be based at. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:42 | |
Behind the mountain, that's the front line. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
So that's where a lot of these girls are from, the Sinjar area, | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
they call it Shingal. So we must hug the Syrian border, keep west, | 0:08:48 | 0:08:53 | |
we know that Isis are both here... | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
and in Tal Afar. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
So we need to do a bit of a detour. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:02 | |
You know, I've never been so familiar | 0:09:02 | 0:09:05 | |
with another country's geography in all me life! | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
So Nadia is obviously from Sinjar. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
-Shingal. -Shingal. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:12 | |
So international - Sinjar, Kurdish - Shingal. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
And this is what this means, these tattoos on her arm. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:19 | |
-Shingal. -Shingal. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
Shin-gal. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
SHE SINGS ALONG TO SONG ON STEREO | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
This song, what does it say? | 0:09:33 | 0:09:35 | |
I'm so sorry to interrupt. All of this... This was bombed? | 0:09:39 | 0:09:43 | |
Oh, the same as Sinjar? Shingal? The same? | 0:09:46 | 0:09:50 | |
Ah, OK. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:51 | |
'When Isis invaded northern Iraq in 2014, Mosul fell first, | 0:09:51 | 0:09:56 | |
'and then they came here, where all these girls are from. | 0:09:56 | 0:10:00 | |
'They killed up to 7,000 Yazidis. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
'The UN called it a genocide.' | 0:10:02 | 0:10:05 | |
How does it make you feel, Nadia, | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
when you see all of these buildings completely destroyed? | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
Now you have no happiness? You feel no joy? | 0:10:30 | 0:10:34 | |
Do you think you'll always feel like this? | 0:10:37 | 0:10:40 | |
Or maybe in time you will be able to recover? | 0:10:40 | 0:10:43 | |
Ah! This is training? | 0:11:27 | 0:11:30 | |
So we're here? This is our training camp. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:32 | |
Well, their training camp. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
Actually, it was a high school, and Isis took over it for four months. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:40 | |
But then the Peshmerga army took it back. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
Phew! | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
It turns out our translator, Adiba, is from a neighbouring village. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:52 | |
This is her first time coming back since she fled her home in 2014. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:57 | |
Some of the girls were telling me that before Isis arrived | 0:12:00 | 0:12:04 | |
this place was heaving. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:05 | |
-It was so busy and... -Yeah, it was, yeah. -There was electricity? | 0:12:05 | 0:12:08 | |
So now only one is here. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:10 | |
In that time there were more than 100 | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
just sitting and working over there. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
When our friends were getting married | 0:12:16 | 0:12:18 | |
we were coming this area to dance here. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
It's still the same smell of Shingal. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:24 | |
It will never change. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:26 | |
Like, the sky here is different. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:28 | |
The sun here is different. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:30 | |
Everything is different in Shingal. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:32 | |
We didn't have anything, but we were so happy. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:35 | |
Everyone were happy. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:36 | |
We were making such a beautiful life. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
I wish, like, we gave them all Shingal, | 0:12:39 | 0:12:42 | |
but just they gave us our people. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
Everything can come back, but people will never come back. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:48 | |
Isis believes that the Yazidis are devil worshippers, | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
and think of them as spoils of war. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
But the truth is that the Yazidis have a historic religion. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:58 | |
They worship an ancient god, and pray facing the sun. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:02 | |
This is not the first time | 0:13:02 | 0:13:03 | |
they've suffered a misunderstanding of their religion. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:07 | |
They say this is the 74th genocide in their history. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:11 | |
I think what I didn't take into consideration | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
was how tiring it would be, being anxious all of the time. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:19 | |
Like, even when I'm on form, and I'm having a laugh with the girls, | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
who are amazing, there's sort of this... | 0:13:22 | 0:13:26 | |
niggling thought at the back of your mind. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
You know, "What was that noise?" | 0:13:29 | 0:13:30 | |
Or, "Are they going to come for us?" you know. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:34 | |
And I think they're rational thoughts because of where I am. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:39 | |
But, you know, I'm sure I can do it for two weeks. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
These girls, this is their reality. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
During the night we all lay out mattresses right next to each other. | 0:13:57 | 0:14:01 | |
I feel like the girls and I are starting to get closer, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
and they're opening up to me. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:06 | |
Inas is another one of the girls who was captured by Isis. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:12 | |
How was your sleep last night? How did you rest? | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
Ines, what was their...reasoning? | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
Did they ever try and justify their behaviour? | 0:15:07 | 0:15:10 | |
If you are successful, and you manage to kill one of your enemies, | 0:15:23 | 0:15:27 | |
how do you think that will make you feel? | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
Khatoon started this battalion by recruiting female survivors | 0:15:43 | 0:15:47 | |
in the refugee camps. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:49 | |
The army offered these girls an opportunity to be together | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
and support each other away from the camps. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:55 | |
And the chance to fight back. | 0:15:57 | 0:15:59 | |
So these girls are getting ready to go home. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:02 | |
Camp's finished for the time being. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:04 | |
I say home - actually, many of them have got no houses to go to, | 0:16:04 | 0:16:08 | |
they've been blown up, | 0:16:08 | 0:16:09 | |
their family members have been killed, | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
some of their towns are still under the control of Isis. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:14 | |
Inas is lucky, in terms of her folks are still alive. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:17 | |
So I'm going to tag along with her when she goes to visit them. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
Ah, sister. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
How are you? | 0:16:24 | 0:16:26 | |
OK? Feel good? | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
Are you excited about seeing Mum and Dad? | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
-Yes. -Yeah? | 0:16:33 | 0:16:35 | |
How many of you girls live in a camp now? | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
Wow. That's remarkable. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
-So you have everything? We are ready to go? -Yes. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
Just this? OK, you take your hat. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:52 | |
I'll help you with your bag. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:54 | |
Let's go. | 0:16:56 | 0:16:58 | |
So this is Hanke Camp, | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
and a lot of the families that have fled conflict are now living here. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:09 | |
It's estimated that just under half a million Yazidis are now displaced. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
Hello. How are you? | 0:17:21 | 0:17:23 | |
Nice to meet you. Hello, sir, how do you do? | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
You OK? Hello. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:28 | |
-Ah, how are you? -I'm good, thanks. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:30 | |
Your English is brilliant. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:32 | |
My Kurdish, not so good! | 0:17:32 | 0:17:34 | |
'Inas' ten family members live in this small space.' | 0:17:36 | 0:17:40 | |
Hello. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:42 | |
Hi. How are you? | 0:17:42 | 0:17:45 | |
Aww! A siesta! | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
-I can sit here? -Yes. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:49 | |
'This family will never forget the day when they had to flee | 0:17:49 | 0:17:52 | |
'their home in Sinjar.' | 0:17:52 | 0:17:53 | |
So when Isis attacked... your area, were you all together? | 0:18:25 | 0:18:30 | |
Collectively as a family? | 0:18:30 | 0:18:32 | |
And please may you tell me | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
what your life was like before you came here? | 0:19:48 | 0:19:50 | |
So these pictures were taken just a few years ago? | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
How does it make you feel knowing that your daughter is potentially | 0:20:24 | 0:20:28 | |
going onto the front line to try and kill the enemy? | 0:20:28 | 0:20:31 | |
I'm so impressed that a 17-year-old girl had the nerve | 0:20:51 | 0:20:55 | |
to stand up to an Isis fighter with a sword to save her dad. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:59 | |
What everyone here is telling me is that Isis | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
killed all the men they captured and raped any women they wanted. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:07 | |
I believe Inas now when she says she's not scared | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
of going to the front line to avenge her sister's death. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:14 | |
It's not just revenge that Inas is after, | 0:21:17 | 0:21:19 | |
she also wants to fight to free the 3,000 women who are still captive. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:24 | |
Isis took these women to use them as sex slaves. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
We've heard numerous anonymous accounts | 0:21:29 | 0:21:31 | |
in terms of what these girls have had to endure, | 0:21:31 | 0:21:34 | |
but by being on the ground it has become apparent that | 0:21:34 | 0:21:37 | |
there's almost this obsession with honour. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
And, unbelievably, the girls are the ones who often feel the shame. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:43 | |
So they're hesitant to come forward and speak. | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
But Inas has a relative who does want to have a chat. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
Can you tell me about the day that Isis arrived in your village? | 0:21:53 | 0:21:57 | |
And the raping and the torture and the selling, | 0:22:24 | 0:22:29 | |
this was something that was happening on a daily basis, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
for you and the rest of the girls? | 0:22:32 | 0:22:34 | |
This young woman has survived being raped and beaten | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
by numerous men for over a year. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
To accept that this is still happening to so many women right now | 0:24:13 | 0:24:17 | |
breaks your heart. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:19 | |
Few Yazidi women seem willing to speak so candidly | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
about the extreme horrors they've encountered. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:26 | |
Just to keep yourself and your family together in a refugee camp | 0:24:29 | 0:24:33 | |
like this place is an uphill struggle every day. | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
I can understand when the girls tell me they feel happier when they're | 0:24:37 | 0:24:41 | |
back with their friends at their base near the front line in Snuny. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:45 | |
So we are just about to go to bed. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
And I'm still inside the high school, because actually, | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
we're not allowed to take our phones up on the roof because it's... | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
we're so close to the mountain, | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
and the enemy for them are just beyond that, | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
so they could see the light from the screen, | 0:25:04 | 0:25:06 | |
which was something I hadn't even thought about. Erm... | 0:25:06 | 0:25:10 | |
Tonight I'm feeling quite apprehensive, | 0:25:11 | 0:25:15 | |
because I know that either tomorrow or the following day | 0:25:15 | 0:25:19 | |
I'm going to have to go to Sinjar. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:21 | |
Sinjar, we are incredibly close to the front line. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:25 | |
Bedtime? | 0:25:27 | 0:25:29 | |
WOMEN TALK IN OWN LANGUAGE | 0:25:29 | 0:25:32 | |
We must go to bed. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
-Yes, she say, "Go to sleep." -Exercise... | 0:25:37 | 0:25:39 | |
"Because tomorrow you will wake up early." | 0:25:39 | 0:25:41 | |
-Exercise? -Exercise, yes. -Exercise, 6am. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
-Yes. -Wish me luck. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
Haven't got a sports bra on! | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
Due to the trauma these girls experienced before joining the army, | 0:26:03 | 0:26:07 | |
some of them were fainting when they first started training. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:10 | |
When I see them now, I can't quite believe their transformation. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:15 | |
You wish you could have defended yourself? | 0:26:31 | 0:26:34 | |
Is there an element of shame on the Isis soldier | 0:27:07 | 0:27:10 | |
if he's killed by a woman, given how they view women? | 0:27:10 | 0:27:14 | |
Everything Isis do, everything they stand for, | 0:27:27 | 0:27:30 | |
it's so they can justify their place in heaven. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
That's the ultimate goal in their mind. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
So the fact that they believe that would not happen | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
were they killed by a female, it's huge. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
WOMEN SPEAK IN OWN LANGUAGE | 0:27:43 | 0:27:45 | |
STACEY SINGS SONG FROM MINIBUS | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
'Since I've been here, the girls and I have been trying to keep | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
'a sense of normality by having fun like normal young women. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
'One is showing me some pictures. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:00 | |
'Life before Isis feels unrecognisable.' | 0:28:00 | 0:28:03 | |
You look nice there. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:05 | |
I like your...hair. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:07 | |
Oh, my goodness. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:10 | |
Look at you! | 0:28:11 | 0:28:12 | |
-My brother. -God, you look like your brother. | 0:28:28 | 0:28:31 | |
Were any of your relatives taken? | 0:28:31 | 0:28:35 | |
From the mountain? | 0:28:47 | 0:28:49 | |
Mosul and Tal Afar. | 0:28:57 | 0:28:59 | |
Did they tell your dad what they'd been through? | 0:28:59 | 0:29:02 | |
'The girls are all too familiar with how these accounts can end.' | 0:29:33 | 0:29:37 | |
WOMAN SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE | 0:29:37 | 0:29:39 | |
You OK? | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
It's OK. You just say whatever you feel comfy saying. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:04 | |
'For some of them this is enough. | 0:30:52 | 0:30:54 | |
'They can't bear to hear what happens next.' | 0:30:54 | 0:30:57 | |
Will you explain? | 0:30:58 | 0:31:00 | |
It's just very evident, isn't it, how broken-hearted they all are? | 0:31:19 | 0:31:24 | |
And it's so... It's such a fine balance. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:31 | |
It's such a difficult... | 0:31:31 | 0:31:32 | |
..subject to broach, | 0:31:35 | 0:31:36 | |
because it's important that these stories are heard, | 0:31:36 | 0:31:38 | |
because these girls have been silenced for a couple of years. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
And why shouldn't people know what they've been through? | 0:31:42 | 0:31:45 | |
And they say to me, | 0:31:47 | 0:31:48 | |
"We want to talk, we want to tell you what we've been through." | 0:31:48 | 0:31:52 | |
So when you're talking to them and you've got young girls | 0:31:55 | 0:31:58 | |
sobbing so much that they've got to run out of the room, | 0:31:58 | 0:32:01 | |
it's time to stop, but... | 0:32:01 | 0:32:02 | |
Even though Isis has killed, raped and tortured thousands of Yazidis | 0:32:08 | 0:32:12 | |
there's been very little action to help them. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:15 | |
They're on their own. | 0:32:15 | 0:32:17 | |
Before Isis, almost all of these women had a life that feels | 0:32:34 | 0:32:38 | |
a million miles away from being part of this dedicated military. | 0:32:38 | 0:32:42 | |
Someone told me you used to be a megastar. | 0:32:43 | 0:32:46 | |
Megastar! | 0:32:48 | 0:32:50 | |
So Khatoon, before she joined the military, | 0:32:50 | 0:32:53 | |
was actually a really well-known singer. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:55 | |
When will you start singing again, Khatoon? | 0:33:17 | 0:33:20 | |
'A day doesn't go by here | 0:33:33 | 0:33:34 | |
'without thinking about the women who are still held captive. | 0:33:34 | 0:33:38 | |
'Tomorrow these girls are going to fight for their loved ones | 0:33:38 | 0:33:41 | |
'on the other side of Sinjar Mountain. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
'Everybody seems so calm this evening, but I'm terrified. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:48 | |
'Since I got here I've been looking at this mountain, | 0:33:48 | 0:33:51 | |
'where the Yazidis went to escape from Isis in 2014. | 0:33:51 | 0:33:55 | |
'But it became a deathtrap.' | 0:33:55 | 0:33:58 | |
When you hear the accounts of what happened up there, the suffering, | 0:33:58 | 0:34:01 | |
the 50,000 people stuck up this mountain. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:04 | |
People were so desperate, and they were starving, | 0:34:04 | 0:34:06 | |
they were throwing themselves off. | 0:34:06 | 0:34:08 | |
You know, babies were being laid to the side, | 0:34:08 | 0:34:11 | |
elderly people were being left at the bottom. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:14 | |
Thousands died. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:17 | |
Khatoon was one of the 50,000 people stuck up the mountain. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:25 | |
These girls clearly take pride in looking their best, | 0:35:28 | 0:35:31 | |
especially when they're preparing to fight. | 0:35:31 | 0:35:33 | |
They seem to stand for everything | 0:35:35 | 0:35:36 | |
that Isis are desperate to deny women. | 0:35:36 | 0:35:39 | |
So, the plan today is that the girls are going to go and support the men, | 0:35:45 | 0:35:49 | |
who are obviously slightly further towards the front line. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:52 | |
Obviously, I'm feeling slightly apprehensive, I mean, | 0:35:52 | 0:35:55 | |
we're going to a live front line. | 0:35:55 | 0:35:57 | |
Where Isis are on the other side. | 0:35:57 | 0:35:59 | |
You know, I've never been anywhere like this in my life before. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:02 | |
Erm... | 0:36:02 | 0:36:03 | |
But the decision's been made, | 0:36:05 | 0:36:06 | |
and...the girls have been so accommodating, | 0:36:06 | 0:36:09 | |
so it's good to see what their lives are like when they're on the ground. | 0:36:09 | 0:36:13 | |
Off we go. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:19 | |
Off we go. | 0:36:23 | 0:36:25 | |
So right now, we're driving directly into the mountain. | 0:36:29 | 0:36:32 | |
I've got to say, | 0:36:33 | 0:36:34 | |
there's a completely different atmosphere amongst the girls today. | 0:36:34 | 0:36:37 | |
You know, pain isn't... | 0:36:37 | 0:36:40 | |
the obvious emotion, there's this determination, | 0:36:40 | 0:36:44 | |
this strength, this optimism. | 0:36:44 | 0:36:46 | |
They were tortured, they were raped, they were abused. | 0:36:46 | 0:36:48 | |
Now see these same girls sat in the back of a truck with their guns | 0:36:48 | 0:36:52 | |
instead of running in the opposite direction, | 0:36:52 | 0:36:55 | |
they're driving head-on, straight towards Isis. | 0:36:55 | 0:36:59 | |
'These girls were trapped up this mountain in 50-degrees heat, | 0:37:01 | 0:37:05 | |
'no food, no water, Isis shooting at them | 0:37:05 | 0:37:08 | |
'and they survived. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:10 | |
'No wonder they don't feel fear any more.' | 0:37:10 | 0:37:13 | |
How long were you stuck here for? | 0:37:13 | 0:37:15 | |
Explain to me how it feels driving through this mountain, | 0:37:17 | 0:37:20 | |
when two years ago you were stuck up it trying to fight for your life. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:23 | |
-So happy. -Happiness? -Yeah. | 0:37:25 | 0:37:27 | |
I hope we're not. I'd have put a dress on. | 0:37:32 | 0:37:34 | |
'There are so many burnt-out cars by the side of the road. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:44 | |
'They were all desperately trying to escape from Isis when they crashed. | 0:37:44 | 0:37:48 | |
'After crossing the mountain we get to Sinjar, | 0:37:50 | 0:37:53 | |
'a city that Khatoon knew very well.' | 0:37:53 | 0:37:56 | |
I've travelled the world for, like, the past decade, | 0:37:56 | 0:37:58 | |
I've never seen such devastation, such destruction. | 0:37:58 | 0:38:03 | |
There's still Isis flags. On some of the walls, | 0:38:22 | 0:38:25 | |
you can still see the Isis stamps. | 0:38:25 | 0:38:27 | |
I see Khatoon fighting her tears, and I feel her pain too. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:53 | |
So many of the girls I've met are from this town, | 0:38:53 | 0:38:57 | |
like Inas and her family back in the refugee camp. | 0:38:57 | 0:39:00 | |
One of these houses was their home. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:02 | |
Just a short distance from Sinjar we arrive at the front line. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:12 | |
The girls are very quick to take their positions. | 0:39:12 | 0:39:16 | |
I'm not quite so fast, | 0:39:16 | 0:39:17 | |
still trying to get to grips with where I am. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:20 | |
There is a possibility at any moment to be... | 0:39:21 | 0:39:24 | |
'A member of our team is getting a security update | 0:39:25 | 0:39:28 | |
'from the front-line commander.' | 0:39:28 | 0:39:30 | |
So what's the situation with the bombs? | 0:39:30 | 0:39:32 | |
The situation is not totally safe. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:35 | |
There was a mortar shelling. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:37 | |
During this week more than 50 mortars has fallen at this front. | 0:39:39 | 0:39:42 | |
-OK. -And there is a possibility for that at any moment. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:46 | |
-OK. -At any moment you should expect a mortar falling. | 0:39:46 | 0:39:49 | |
OK. | 0:39:49 | 0:39:50 | |
Behind the trench, on the other side, there was movement. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:54 | |
A vehicle and a motorcycle, usually they... | 0:39:54 | 0:39:58 | |
take those mortars with motorcycles and vehicles. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:01 | |
Two mortars today has fallen at the next...point. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:05 | |
MAN SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE | 0:40:05 | 0:40:06 | |
-Just now. A few minutes ago. -The mortar just fell a few minutes ago? | 0:40:06 | 0:40:11 | |
-Yeah, in that position, next to this one. -OK. Well... | 0:40:11 | 0:40:14 | |
MAN SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE | 0:40:14 | 0:40:16 | |
-It is like 1km away from here. -OK. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
OK, so we don't need to spend a huge amount of time here. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:23 | |
How do you hope the girls will be able to facilitate you? | 0:40:32 | 0:40:37 | |
They now have this army, they have this group, they've come to you. | 0:40:37 | 0:40:41 | |
They were shelling mortars just this morning, it fell about 1km away. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:20 | |
How do you feel about that? | 0:41:20 | 0:41:22 | |
ARTILLERY FIRES Fucking hell! Oh, my God! | 0:41:22 | 0:41:26 | |
It's OK. | 0:41:26 | 0:41:27 | |
THEY are shooting. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:29 | |
Fucking hell, you have to tell me when you're going to do that! | 0:41:29 | 0:41:32 | |
Christ! | 0:41:32 | 0:41:33 | |
ARTILLERY FIRES | 0:41:33 | 0:41:35 | |
ARTILLERY CONTINUES FIRING Fucking hell. | 0:41:42 | 0:41:45 | |
So that firing you hear, that's from the Peshmerga. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
But there was no warning. I didn't realise that they were shooting. | 0:41:54 | 0:41:58 | |
So I thought it was them coming for us. Erm... | 0:41:59 | 0:42:03 | |
We are so, so close. | 0:42:03 | 0:42:04 | |
I mean, you speak to the... the guys, it becomes apparent that | 0:42:04 | 0:42:09 | |
they only really see the Isis fighters | 0:42:09 | 0:42:12 | |
when they're 500 or 600 metres away. | 0:42:12 | 0:42:14 | |
GUNFIRE IN DISTANCE That's from them. | 0:42:17 | 0:42:18 | |
That's coming from them. | 0:42:18 | 0:42:20 | |
So now we're in a situation where both sides seem to be shooting, | 0:42:22 | 0:42:26 | |
I think we're going to have to get out of here quite quickly. GUNFIRE | 0:42:26 | 0:42:30 | |
Less than a month after I was here, the battle to liberate Mosul began | 0:42:30 | 0:42:35 | |
and these women are now part of the Peshmerga army | 0:42:35 | 0:42:37 | |
fighting on the front line. | 0:42:37 | 0:42:39 | |
If Isis are forced out of Mosul they could attempt to escape to Syria | 0:42:39 | 0:42:43 | |
through the Sinjar front line. | 0:42:43 | 0:42:45 | |
But what will happen to the 3,000 Yazidi women and children | 0:42:45 | 0:42:50 | |
still held captive? | 0:42:50 | 0:42:51 | |
These innocent people, | 0:42:51 | 0:42:53 | |
who have endured daily torture for over two years, | 0:42:53 | 0:42:56 | |
could now become human shields to protect the Isis fighters | 0:42:56 | 0:43:00 | |
as they pass Sinjar. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:02 | |
These women fighting are ready to risk their lives | 0:43:02 | 0:43:05 | |
to rescue their loved ones. | 0:43:05 | 0:43:06 | |
The hope to be reunited with them again is the driving force | 0:43:06 | 0:43:10 | |
to overcome the unthinkable and fight till the end. | 0:43:10 | 0:43:13 | |
One of the girls... | 0:43:15 | 0:43:16 | |
..she gave me...Nadia, she gave me this picture. | 0:43:17 | 0:43:20 | |
They've been giving me gifts. | 0:43:20 | 0:43:22 | |
And she's given me this, so I never forget her. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:27 | |
As if I will, but isn't that sweet? | 0:43:28 | 0:43:30 | |
One of the other girls gave me, like, this purple lippy. | 0:43:33 | 0:43:35 | |
I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'd probably never wear it. | 0:43:36 | 0:43:39 | |
SHE CHUCKLES | 0:43:39 | 0:43:40 | |
Erm... | 0:43:40 | 0:43:42 | |
But, yeah. | 0:43:42 | 0:43:43 | |
It's been one of the most... | 0:43:46 | 0:43:48 | |
..unbelievable, eye-opening, sobering trips I've ever done. | 0:43:50 | 0:43:54 |