Destination Syria with Catrin Nye Our World

BBC News Channel. Form `` from me for now on BBC1, goodbye. Now, it is

time for Al world. Mosul, a city at the centre

of the battle foR Iraq. The world looks on powerless

as a new force takes control Last year,

I visited the city to tell the story Ordinary citizens determined to keep

their dreams alive in the face TRANSLATION: I don't even know

whether the new rulers will allow us Flying is my life,

but now my priority is the lives I have been back to the region,

and obtained rarely seen footage of the impact

of the extraordinary rise of ISIS. Last year,

I came to this hill on the outskirts of Mosul to tell the story of four

people who escaped from life in one of the world's most dangerous

cities, to learn to paraglide. TRANSLATION: Even if I lived in a

modern, beautiful city with big and lots of greenery,

it still doesn't compare to living I would only live in Iraq,

the best country. A devout Christian

and devoted flyer... My love for flying runs

in my blood now. And a new member,

a 42`year`old recently divorced Up their everything sad,

everything violent, it is gone, For this aviation club, the Friday

outings offered respite from The city was gripped by fear,

a frustrated Sunni population was protesting against the rule

of Baghdad's Shi'ite dominated Al Qaeda had made the city its base,

frequently detonating car bombs The world was stunned when Mosul

unexpectedly fell to a rampaging As the defeated Iraqi army fled

Mosul and the citizens stoned their escaping tanks, the new force

was quick to flaunt its brutality. ISIS is a grouping of some

of the world's most violent Sunni militants, so extreme they have been

disowned by Al Qaeda. In less than a week, their army

took Mosul and threatened Baghdad. Their goal is to establish an

ultraconservative state across the I couldn't imagine how the friends I

had made here could live under this I wanted to see if I could find

some of the members of the flying As a Western journalist, how close

can you get to Mosul today? I began my journey by flying into

Irbil before driving into the city. To begin with,

the checkpoints under control We are approaching the second last

checkpoint before reaching Mosul, As you get closer to Mosul,

the situation at They have warned us that

beyond this point there is only one more checkpoint and then they no

longer control this area. He has been waved down by the

Peshmerga. We have just arrived

at the last checkpoint 500 metres down that road is

where the insurgents are. That sign over their says, warning,

do not go beyond this point. Then a group of soldiers,

led by a brigadier, The Kurdish soldiers who guard this

checkpoint are concerned about It is a gentleman's agreement,

he tells me. But if it breaks, they will use

it to assert independence. Does it worry your men that

ISIS is just 500 metres away? The Peshmerga tell us our time is

up. We need to leave the area. There may not be any fighting going

on, but it is The difficulty of moving

around the outskirts of Mosul made Even last year, as a woman in the

city, she faced many restrictions. The flying club was one

place she could escape. When I first met her,

she was a strong, Just as I could not get into

her city, she couldn't get out. From the relative safety of Irbil,

I did manage to speak to her There is little electricity

or fuel in the city. There is not bombing but we cannot

say it is a safe place. Despite this,

she will not leave her home town. What are your dreams now,

for yourself and for your country? Even last year,

the people in Mosul worked as denied peace, caught in a violent

struggle between Sawley militia `` were denied police `` were denied

peace. And were caught up between the Sunni government and the sheer

army. Nonetheless,

I did manage to go to Mosul at the The encounter turned out

to be hugely prophetic. It was clear that

the government's sympathies lay with the Sony citizens,

angry with the discrimination they felt they received from the mainly

Shi'ite government in Baghdad. Today, the black flag of ISIS

flies over his office in the city. These rarely seen shots from

inside Mosul are taken from a local contact, and they show

the city under ISIS control. They are keen to show that control,

with near daily parades. For them, it is not just

about taking over the city. They want to show they can run it as

well, getting the city back to work. That is not enough for thousands

of people, who have fled. Some have been taken in

by friends and family, others using But,

for those with nowhere else to go, this refugee camp halfway between

Mosul and Irbil, has become home. I assumed most people here would be

of ISIS, but intent after tent, I assumed most people here would be

of ISIS, but in tent after tent, This man, a Sunni, fled his village

on the outskirts of Mosul with Insurgents are not foreigners,

they are members of tribes. They are here to end the regime

of Nouri al`Maliki. They are my countrymen,

and I defend them with my soul. If it wasn't for my family,

I would be the first to go This is a revolution of the Iraqi

people, it is not ISIS. This is

the Iraqi people's revolution. In another tent,

I met a soldier who had defected. He recounted the moment when ISIS

came to his base. I am talking to you

but I am still in shock. If you surrender, and give up

your weapon, they just take The reason I left was because

of the bombing. We don't want to go through

the same experience that Fallujah While we are in the camp,

a prominent politician turned up. He is a former darling of the West

now sees himself as a serious contender to replace

Nouri al`Maliki. Courting the world's media, he

offered sympathy to the refugees. They are very frustrated,

downtrodden, they have suffered and I believe they should be

restored to their homes. A lot

of the people here say that they are so concerned about ISIS, they are

worried about the military and any potential attacks by the military

and ISIS isn't harming civilians. My answer to that on ISIS,

this is the beginning. But I hope that we can recover

the territories lost, Are you confident

al`Maliki can do that? I am confident

the government can do that. All this talk of leadership made

me talk of the Falcon aviation He and his beloved family

had decided to stay on in Mosul and it seemed nearly impossible be

would meet again. He and his son had queued

for three days for petrol and braved the checkpoints to

drive out and meet me. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein,

he has seen leaders come and go. I wondered what he made

of the recent events. When the dust settles everything

will return to normal. At the end of the day,

we are Iraqi and we are staying put, There might be 1000 or 2000

politicians and the politicians, either the new ones or the old

ones, will eventually realise this. But I was worried

about his son, who seemed more affected than his father

by what had happened to his city. He was eager to show me a video

of his last flight, When we saw him last year,

he had seemed carefree. But now his passion for flying gave

him a particular reason to fear I do not what the new rulers

will think about that. It might be considered by them

as breaking their new laws. Then you ask this question to

someone who is addicted to a certain hobby,

I can't imagine my reaction if I was Is this what is

upsetting you most? Not only that, I'm more upset

because of the current of Mosul. The city, its people,

what they've been through. Personally,

when I walk along the roads, the dust and houses and everything that

Mosul is, I feel like crying now. But as a young man in Mosul

the end of the Army curfews has made `` has made his life easier in some

respects. The army used to arrest

young people unfairly. I have been arrested at 2am

and the reason given to me was that They hit me on both my back and

my head with all types of weapons. I had to stay in bed for a week,

being visited by a doctor. A fish dies outside

the water. We said goodbye with

promises to try and meet again. But I wondered if the next time we

met it really would be in Mosul. Iraq has long been divided

between Sunni and Shia. Now the Sunni tribes have joined

forces with the ISIS militants. This is a violent uprising

and a violent insurgency. No,

this is a revolution of the tribes. It is the Sunnis revolution

against oppression and injustice. Unfortunately, there are some who

claim it is an ISIS revolution, a It's revolution

against injustice against The political process has led to

significant arming of Sunnis right. Are you finding

the insurgents? funding.

These are tribesmen, not These are already organised

and armed militia and most of them are former army officials

and security officials or policemen, But he is clear that his

alliance with the Islamist of ISIS Fighting ISIS isn't

on the agenda at the moment. But after we resolve our conflict

with the government, then we will fight ISIS, just as we previously

fought terrorism in 2006 and 2007. After that,

we will have our rights respected but we will never fight

ISIS on behalf of Nouri al`Maliki. Do you believe Iraq can

remain one country? For many, the dream

of a united Iraq has already ended. One of the members of the club I

met last year was a Christian. Targeted by extremists,

the doctor has now fled to Jordan The physical education teacher who

trained young women at Mosul University, she was the first female

hand glider in the Arab world. But that life

and that world has gone. When this happens, minorities

like us will have no place in Iraq. I've lost my friends, my job,

my life. All she wants

now is to be safe. Somewhere to be in with my children

and husband, to start a new life from scratch with my children

and let them finish their studies. Last year,

when I first met the members of the aviation club, they were living

in Iraq's most dangerous city. But they still had so much hope

that there was a brighter future To meet them only one year later and

see them grounded, simply focused on daily survival, rather than their

dreams, gave me a small insight into For all of them, the hope

of a peaceful homeland is becoming I never worked for

the government and I never will. This keeps me away

from getting involved in politics. Flying is my life,

but now my priority is the lives I'll always miss flying but now I'll

only do it My dream is to continue my studies

and to become a civil pilot. I want one day to look

at my shoulder and see the four gold stripes there

which shows the world I am a pilot. If your garden is looking a bit dry,

you may