0:00:01 > 0:00:06Now on BBC News, it's Our World.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12In the Syrian city of Raqqa, Islamic State
0:00:12 > 0:00:22is making a final stand.
0:00:23 > 0:00:24Fighting them, a fragile coalition...
0:00:24 > 0:00:29GUNSHOTS.
0:00:29 > 0:00:38..of powers, great and small.
0:00:38 > 0:00:39Of Arabs and Kurds.
0:00:39 > 0:00:53Of men and women.
0:00:53 > 0:01:01The enemy they face has weaponised fear.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17But this is more than the final showdown with Isis in its capital.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21It's also a battle for a Kurdish state in northern Syria.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25There's something bigger than me.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28It's for people here, the women here and women in the Middle East,
0:01:28 > 0:01:35and maybe potentially the world.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37It's a fight for territory, both physical and ideological.
0:01:37 > 0:01:56This story begins not in Raqqa, but in Kobane.
0:01:56 > 0:02:05What remains of this largely Kurdish city stands as a monument
0:02:05 > 0:02:21to a brutal turning point in the war against Islamic State.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26It was here that IS reached its high water mark.
0:02:27 > 0:02:36Its territory extending as far as the Turkish border.
0:02:36 > 0:02:37It was here it met its first significant defeat.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18The cemetery in Kobane testifies to just how high
0:03:18 > 0:03:22a price Kurdish fighters, men and women, have already paid
0:03:22 > 0:03:27in their war against IS.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13For the Kurds, this is part of a wider battle, for a long-held
0:04:13 > 0:04:21dream of self-determination.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26Commander Sonxuin is part of that battle.
0:04:26 > 0:04:43Her nom de guerre means Red Blood.
0:04:43 > 0:04:51Today, Sonxuin commands around 1000 fighters on the Raqqa front line.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Periods of intense fighting punctuate the mundane
0:04:53 > 0:05:05routines of war.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Together, these men and women make up the Syrian
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Democratic Forces, or SDF.
0:05:09 > 0:05:17An alliance that includes Arabs, but is led by the Kurds.
0:05:17 > 0:05:34We're heading towards the centre of Raqqa.
0:05:34 > 0:05:44Islamic State fighters are holed up in the Old City, just a few
0:05:44 > 0:05:45hundred metres away.
0:05:45 > 0:05:46Everyone is on edge.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49A sound overhead signals the presence of an attack drone.
0:05:49 > 0:05:56What's happening is we've just driven down these
0:05:56 > 0:05:57narrow side streets.
0:05:57 > 0:05:58Suddenly there's gunfire overhead, everyone's
0:05:58 > 0:06:03looking up in the sky, searching for these IS drones.
0:06:03 > 0:06:04This is urban warfare.
0:06:04 > 0:06:11There are no real front lines.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16The Kurdish-led SDF are not on their own in this fight.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19The Americans have quietly built up a presence on the ground
0:06:19 > 0:06:21here in northern Syria, providing weapons,
0:06:21 > 0:06:26training and firepower.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28With US help they've chased Islamic State out of traditionally
0:06:28 > 0:06:33Kurdish areas and beyond.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Expanding their control across the Euphrates and into mainly
0:06:36 > 0:06:43Arab territory to the West.
0:06:43 > 0:06:48This is Manbij.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51The Syrian Democratic Forces took the city last August,
0:06:51 > 0:06:57after two and a half years under IS rule.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00This building was their courthouse.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Here, Islamic State would sit in judgment over people they deemed
0:07:03 > 0:07:08to have broken their laws.
0:07:08 > 0:07:14Punishment would be meted out in the car park opposite.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19A local shopkeeper witnessed many of the gruesome executions.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Even though IS is gone from here, he asked us not
0:07:22 > 0:08:03to reveal his identity, for fear of reprisals.
0:08:03 > 0:08:12Down in the basement, their brutal legacy lingers, like a ghost.
0:08:12 > 0:08:28In this dungeon, IS tortured its prisoners.
0:08:28 > 0:08:37A policeman showed us the cell where his uncle was kept.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Barely big enough to contain a man.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46Tiny air holes to keep him alive.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49When they let him out, after four days, they had
0:08:49 > 0:08:57to amputate his leg.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00In a vast graveyard in the centre of Manbij, IS fighters have smashed
0:09:00 > 0:09:08every single headstone.
0:09:08 > 0:09:17And even though Islamic State has been chased out of this town,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20that doesn't mean its ideology has gone with it.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43In Manbij, a multiethnic military and civil council has brought life
0:09:43 > 0:09:46and stability back to this mainly Arab city, under the auspices
0:09:46 > 0:10:01of the Kurdish led SDF.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25The SDF and their American allies see Manbij as a template for Raqqa,
0:10:25 > 0:10:30once IS is driven out, but in the context of Syria's
0:10:30 > 0:10:39ongoing civil war it is at best a temporary arrangement.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42From Kobane to Manbij, and now to Raqqa, it
0:10:42 > 0:10:53has been a long road to the capital of the caliphate.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58Commander Sonxuin and her unit are on the Western front.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01It's a tight squeeze in a home-made armoured truck with a couple
0:11:01 > 0:11:08of her fighters, driving towards the centre of Raqqa.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18Islamic State are supposed to be surrounded inside the Old City,
0:11:18 > 0:11:23but IS have dug tunnels.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28And frequently, they pop up where you don't expect them.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33GUNSHOTS.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37These fighters, they are coming up against IS snipers in all these
0:11:37 > 0:11:38streets around here.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Other than that, they've got drones, they've got suicide bombers.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47This is going to be a very hard fight into the centre of Raqqa.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50Back at base, Sonxuin and her fellow commanders are having
0:11:50 > 0:11:53a strategy meeting.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02As the fight enters the narrow streets of the city,
0:12:02 > 0:12:07they are constantly having to adjust their tactics.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07As the SDF push forward, Raqqa seems deserted.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12But the empty streets are deceptive.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15There are still people here and they are desperate
0:13:15 > 0:13:20to get out.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26As we drive towards the centre, carts appear flying white flags.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40There are still tens of thousands of people in Raqqa,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44trapped between the coalition air strikes on one side
0:13:44 > 0:13:48and Islamic State on the other,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50who've been killing anyone who tries to flee.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23The problem for the SDF coalition is this -
0:14:23 > 0:14:25they don't know whether some of those fleeing could,
0:14:25 > 0:14:32in fact, be IS supporters themselves.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40After screening, many of them end up at this camp.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44All have lived under the harsh regime of Islamic State -
0:14:44 > 0:14:50not all against their will.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55Noor left Raqqa for Lebanon two years ago to join her
0:14:55 > 0:15:00husband, a jihadi.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13As the wife of a foreign fighter, Noor was in a relatively privileged
0:15:13 > 0:15:16position.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19There were many women, especially Yazidis, whose fates
0:15:19 > 0:15:21were much darker - women captured and sold
0:15:21 > 0:15:27between the fighters as sex slaves.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30She saw all this.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Those women are still there, in Raqqa, prisoners
0:16:20 > 0:16:25of the caliphate.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Syria has been at war for more than six years now -
0:16:30 > 0:16:36longer than the whole of World War II.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39The fight against Islamic State is but one facet of an ongoing
0:16:39 > 0:16:44conflict that is drawing in the world's big powers.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52From a hilltop overlooking the Manbij countryside,
0:16:52 > 0:16:58a local Kurdish commander showed me the point at which all these
0:16:58 > 0:17:01competing forces come face to face.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03OK, well, it's a pretty complicated picture,
0:17:03 > 0:17:06but basically it boils down to this - from the west,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10all the way up to the north, up to the Euphrates River over
0:17:10 > 0:17:14there, is controlled by the Americans.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18From that same west point all the way to the south
0:17:18 > 0:17:21is controlled by the Syrian regime.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25That describes the sort of D shape.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28In the middle of that is the pocket of the Manbij Military Council,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31which is an Arab-Kurdish coalition, but is basically controlled
0:17:31 > 0:17:32by the Kurds.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36But in between all of that, there's a Russian base just over
0:17:36 > 0:17:40there, an American base just 4km along from that,
0:17:40 > 0:17:44and surrounding all of it are FSA forces -
0:17:44 > 0:17:46Free Syrian Army - that are basically sponsored
0:17:46 > 0:17:51by the Turks.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55For now, the battle against Islamic State provides
0:17:55 > 0:17:57a kind of common purpose.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00But once IS is gone, the potential for conflict
0:18:00 > 0:18:04between these big powers is very real.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32The Kurds' position is extremely fragile.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Their fighters belonged to a branch of the PKK,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37considered a terrorist organisation by both Turkey
0:18:37 > 0:18:42and the United States.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47For now, the Syrian Kurds have the backing of the Americans
0:18:47 > 0:18:49but Turkey, a NATO ally, carries out sporadic attacks
0:18:49 > 0:18:53against them - that's because their fight
0:18:53 > 0:18:59against the Islamic State is really about creating their own state.
0:19:04 > 0:19:10On the Raqqa front lines, Sonxuin's fighters are so close,
0:19:10 > 0:19:17they can hear IS in the building across the street.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22For the Kurds, this is more than a war.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24It's a revolution.
0:19:25 > 0:19:31And it's attracting its share of idealistic outsiders.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33There's just a million ways to die here.
0:19:33 > 0:19:34It's not just on the front.
0:19:34 > 0:19:35There's no front line.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39It's a huge space of war, that is like, even though it seems
0:19:39 > 0:19:40peaceful here, anything can happen.
0:19:40 > 0:19:47Kimmie Taylor is a former maths student.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51She is originally from Blackburn in the north of England.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55She left behind a life of activism at home to come to Syria to fight
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Islamic State.
0:19:58 > 0:20:04What are the biggest worries, the biggest threats?
0:20:04 > 0:20:07On the moving front, where we are moving to take more
0:20:07 > 0:20:15space, it's snipers.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17And mines everywhere - there's mines everywhere
0:20:17 > 0:20:18and snipers everywhere.
0:20:18 > 0:20:19Are you scared?
0:20:19 > 0:20:21Uh, no.
0:20:21 > 0:20:22There is something bigger than me.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24It's for people here.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28It's for women here and for women all in the Middle East,
0:20:28 > 0:20:29and even maybe potentially the world.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32In a conservative society, this feminist revolution faces
0:20:32 > 0:20:33internal opposition, too,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36but this is a movement that tolerates little dissent.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Political opponents have been jailed.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45Thousands of young people have fled conscription.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48But for Sonxuin, a true believer,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52the fight against IS is but one battle in a longer war
0:20:52 > 0:20:56to convert her own people to the cause.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Sonxuin's fighters face Islamic State at perhaps its most
0:21:31 > 0:21:42dangerous - wounded, cornered, and with nothing left to lose.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47This is, of course, a battle for territory.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51They're fighting to take the capital of the caliphate.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53Oh, there's something happening here.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Everyone's just springing into action.
0:21:58 > 0:22:04They think they've got some ISIS snipers in the buildings around.
0:22:10 > 0:22:11We've
0:22:11 > 0:22:11We've got
0:22:11 > 0:22:11We've got one,
0:22:11 > 0:22:15We've got one, yes?
0:22:15 > 0:22:15We've got one, yes? Yes.
0:22:15 > 0:22:16Let's go.
0:22:16 > 0:22:17What's going on?
0:22:17 > 0:22:18They are moving here.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21The fall of the Islamic State is within sight.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24The question is, can this Kurdish revolution survive in the face
0:22:24 > 0:22:28of Syria's still unfinished war?