:00:00. > :00:00.the Metropolitan Police. Time now for Overland to Syria.
:00:07. > :00:09.Late night in Manchester. These ambulances are packed with medical
:00:10. > :00:18.supplies and food, collected by volunteers. When you get there, you
:00:19. > :00:23.know some will be broken anyway. We are following this charity's journey
:00:24. > :00:32.overland to Syria. Five ambulances through nine countries. If the world
:00:33. > :00:36.was doing what it's supposed to be doing, I wouldn't have to risk my
:00:37. > :00:43.life to do this. What awaits them at the other end is one of the most
:00:44. > :00:51.dangerous places on earth. The doctor here is stitching up a young
:00:52. > :00:55.child. We are on the frontline. I never thought we would go this far.
:00:56. > :01:02.There are snipers on the rooftops. We had to come in these buildings.
:01:03. > :01:04.Look at that. It's crazy, madness. We really have to help these people.
:01:05. > :01:31.There is no time to waste. Last minute operations for a journey
:01:32. > :01:36.to Syria. This group of volunteers from a British charity. The convoy
:01:37. > :01:42.leader is a father of three who owns a taxi firm in Bolton. The rest of
:01:43. > :01:48.the 14 include the only woman of the group, a doctor and mother of four.
:01:49. > :01:52.And a credit advisor from Leicester is one of the youngest on the
:01:53. > :01:58.convoy. This 25-year-old is a pharmacist. Do you have any nerves?
:01:59. > :02:06.No, I'm fairly relaxed. It's nice to do something real in life. Have a
:02:07. > :02:09.break from work. That might sound crazy to a lot of people, that you
:02:10. > :02:12.aren't nervous. What defines crazy? Is everyone else crazy, who is
:02:13. > :02:20.working nine till five, not Worrying about 78% of the population living
:02:21. > :02:29.in dire poverty. I would say that's crazy. I'm not allowed to go because
:02:30. > :02:34.I have got school. Would you like to go? Yes. There wouldn't be many
:02:35. > :02:38.students who would rather go to Syria than to school. Once you tell
:02:39. > :02:41.people about it, once you have been there and played with the kids, been
:02:42. > :02:53.to refugee camps, you can't forget about it. It's in your head.
:02:54. > :02:56.Everything else seems pointless. The group are making this trip in
:02:57. > :03:00.response to the civil war, raging in Syria. It began when President
:03:01. > :03:05.Bashar al-Assad tried to suppress a popular uprising in March, 2011.
:03:06. > :03:10.Since then, increasing levels of violence are being used. The UN
:03:11. > :03:15.estimates more than 100,000 people have been killed on both sides.
:03:16. > :03:18.Millions have fled. Parts of the country have become so dangerous
:03:19. > :03:30.that civilians are being left without help from the outside world.
:03:31. > :03:32.Despite this, small aid convoys like this one are making the journey
:03:33. > :03:42.overland, packing secondhand ambulances with aid and driving
:03:43. > :03:53.there. It's 9:30pm. We are just setting off. The journey to Syria.
:03:54. > :03:57.It will be a long journey. They first head to the port of Dover,
:03:58. > :04:03.where they face an early set back. How are we doing? Are you still
:04:04. > :04:08.getting searched? One ambulance is stopped by counterterrorism forces.
:04:09. > :04:17.They are searching the vehicle and individuals. I don't think we'll
:04:18. > :04:20.make it in time for the ferry. The group face suspicion that they are
:04:21. > :04:27.going to Syria to fight, rather than deliver aid. We are not interested
:04:28. > :04:36.in politics, we are just here to do some aid. Did they take your phone?
:04:37. > :04:42.Yes, and they asked for my pin code and downloaded everything. That's
:04:43. > :04:47.what they said. Your names, your beliefs, in terms of your religion,
:04:48. > :04:52.where you are going. In one respect you can understand, they have a job
:04:53. > :04:55.to do. But if you've been three times and you get stopped three
:04:56. > :05:02.times, and it happens all the time, you can feel it is like harassment.
:05:03. > :05:06.What can you do? It's estimated that more than 100 British citizens would
:05:07. > :05:09.be fighting with the opposition in Syria and the evidence suggests that
:05:10. > :05:15.many get there under the cover of charity missions. How do you make
:05:16. > :05:19.sure everyone is coming for the right reasons? If Joe Bloggs off the
:05:20. > :05:22.street says he wants to come, he would have to know somebody we knew
:05:23. > :05:25.and have a face-to-face interview and they'd check Twitter, Facebook,
:05:26. > :05:34.et cetera, Instagram and make sure, as far as we possibly can, that it
:05:35. > :05:39.is purely humanitarian. Nothing is 100% foolproof. As long as we do our
:05:40. > :05:51.checks and we are satisfied, everyone is vetted. The journey
:05:52. > :06:00.takes in vast stretches of western Europe. It's a stark contrast to
:06:01. > :06:04.where the convoy will end up. It is day three of the journey and we are
:06:05. > :06:06.in Switzerland. This is one of the ambulances on the convoy. It's
:06:07. > :06:13.packed down the side with medical supplies. Needles, boxes and boxes
:06:14. > :06:20.of painkillers. This is where four people are sleeping. It's very
:06:21. > :06:24.cramped. If I take you through to another one of the ambulances, this
:06:25. > :06:28.is number two. At the back here, more medical supplies. Dried food.
:06:29. > :06:33.Two people are sleeping in here, so it's very cramped. In the back, more
:06:34. > :06:48.medical supplies, all going to Syria. En route, there's just time
:06:49. > :06:57.for a wash in a river. We know why people died of hypothermia! I can't
:06:58. > :07:00.feel my toes. We have got this far. The group are all British, of
:07:01. > :07:07.Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian heritage. They emphasise that they
:07:08. > :07:13.will deliver aid to civilians, regardless of religion or whichever
:07:14. > :07:17.side of the conflict they are on. This woman has been on such missions
:07:18. > :07:22.before to places like Gaza and Pakistan. She says she understands
:07:23. > :07:25.the dangers they are about to face. Have you thought about the prospect
:07:26. > :07:28.of people not coming out? People getting hurt or killed? Yes, I think
:07:29. > :07:35.every humanitarian thinks of the worst, especially when they are
:07:36. > :07:38.going into Syria. At the end of the day, you take precautions. Nobody is
:07:39. > :07:42.going in there to get hurt. You could argue that, if you were going
:07:43. > :07:46.to die, it could easily happen elsewhere. I would rather it be
:07:47. > :07:50.something meaningful. You have brought your children on one of
:07:51. > :07:54.these convoys. As a mother, how could you put them in that position,
:07:55. > :07:58.in that kind of danger? But it was fairly safe where we were and they
:07:59. > :08:01.were able to go into the refugee camps. It's a summer holiday like
:08:02. > :08:06.they have never had before, basically. Is it not better to leave
:08:07. > :08:10.them at home and if you want to put yourself in danger, do that but not
:08:11. > :08:14.them? I tried to do that. I tried to say myself and my other half would
:08:15. > :08:20.go with the team but they are four teenagers, they were coming. They
:08:21. > :08:23.were very hands-on with everything we had to do, even when we were on
:08:24. > :08:27.the ground on the other side. Every day in the refugee camps, every day
:08:28. > :08:30.helping with the aid, moving it from one place to another. I think it has
:08:31. > :08:49.been a really enriching experience for them overall.
:08:50. > :08:57.Do you feel like your religion makes you fearless? I don't fear anything.
:08:58. > :09:03.I only fear God. There is nothing to be scared of. What's the worst that
:09:04. > :09:08.could happen? Serious injury, death, kidnap? If you die while you are
:09:09. > :09:19.trying to help others in their hour of need, the way we see it is we
:09:20. > :09:22.will go heaven. This Islamic song is played throughout the trip. It
:09:23. > :09:55.details the country's suffering. On every convoy this group have been
:09:56. > :10:05.on, someone has been turned back at the Greece-Turkey border. This time,
:10:06. > :10:13.Ahmed is stopped. No reason is given. After being held up for 30
:10:14. > :10:21.hours, the rest of the group get through. It's then a dash across
:10:22. > :10:26.Turkey. Come on, guys, Syria is calling! Finally, after eight days
:10:27. > :10:32.of driving, they approached the Syrian border. I just have to drive,
:10:33. > :10:48.knowing that I take an ambulance that can save lives. It's something
:10:49. > :10:51.you have to do. So, this is Turkey's border with Syria and this is where
:10:52. > :10:54.the trip gets very real for everyone involved. They're about to head into
:10:55. > :10:56.a war zone and hopefully hand over all the aid they've spent months
:10:57. > :11:11.gathering. The convoy heads on without us.
:11:12. > :11:18.They're about to take huge risks and we could put them in further danger.
:11:19. > :11:21.We're in Syria at the moment in the compound... They are filming
:11:22. > :11:23.themselves on mobile phones. We are emptying and unloading all the
:11:24. > :11:26.ambulances, taking out all the goods, which we are going to be
:11:27. > :11:32.handing over to our brothers and sisters in Syria. We have Pot
:11:33. > :11:35.Noodles, some food, some baby milk, we have medicine, a lot of other
:11:36. > :11:51.goods, which we bought with your donations. The ambulances themselves
:11:52. > :11:54.are left behind for local hospitals. They head to a school which is now
:11:55. > :12:01.housing refugees just over the border. It is priceless. We get out
:12:02. > :12:06.of the vehicles and we hand it to the children and they are loving it.
:12:07. > :12:11.You see the smiles on their faces, we have a translator, we were trying
:12:12. > :12:18.to become their friends. They were saying thank you for the sweets,
:12:19. > :12:21.they really appreciated it. These schools have all been turned into
:12:22. > :12:25.refugee camps because there's no education structure in Syria any
:12:26. > :12:30.more. All of these children live in the schools. When you go inside you
:12:31. > :12:33.will see there are desks and chairs piled up on the sides in the
:12:34. > :12:38.corridors because they're not being used any more. Unfortunately this is
:12:39. > :12:41.just a little snap shot of what Syrian life is like and the fact
:12:42. > :12:54.there are absolutely no schools running at the moment. There's
:12:55. > :13:05.absolutely nothing at all. Let me just see the locals.
:13:06. > :13:10.Still filming everything on mobile phones, four of the team then decide
:13:11. > :13:15.to make the short but incredibly dangerous journey to Aleppo. The
:13:16. > :13:23.road is lined with checkpoints, trying to avoid them makes the route
:13:24. > :13:27.a long and winding one. This city, once celebrated for its ancient
:13:28. > :13:30.monuments, is now in pieces. The dangers are so severe here that few
:13:31. > :13:35.foreign aid agencies are even operating. This final journey takes
:13:36. > :13:37.the convoy right to the front line between government forces and rebel
:13:38. > :13:49.fighters. We went out with one of the hospital
:13:50. > :14:01.ambulance drivers and he knows the entire area. Some parts were a bit
:14:02. > :14:05.hairy. More than a bit hairy? Yeah. We ended up not very far from some
:14:06. > :14:19.of the frontlines were there were problems. The driver is asking me to
:14:20. > :14:29.have a look through the. There is a sniper... There is a sniper sat
:14:30. > :14:33.there. We are actually on the front line, I never thought we would get
:14:34. > :14:38.this far. The sniper is in one of these buildings up top, we're not
:14:39. > :14:44.sure exactly where. We are actually in hiding at the moment. Just to let
:14:45. > :14:47.you know that we actually came out because we brought the hospital
:14:48. > :14:51.driver with us to go to some of the hospitals and this was one of the
:14:52. > :15:03.routes we had to take, and that why we are here. There are snipers on
:15:04. > :15:06.rooftops so we have had to come through these buildings and these
:15:07. > :15:12.purpose-built holes through walls to avoid walking in the open streets.
:15:13. > :15:19.To be actually in the thick of it, it was a little closer than I would
:15:20. > :15:22.have liked to have been. We have ended up in this backstreet where
:15:23. > :15:30.there are snipers across every side street, every junction the road. If
:15:31. > :15:38.I turn this around, there are huge sheets that have been put up to try
:15:39. > :15:41.to avoid snipers being able to see. I just think get through this
:15:42. > :15:48.situation and get back to doing what we are there to do. We are stitching
:15:49. > :15:51.up a young child here. We managed to deliver the age to the hospitals
:15:52. > :15:57.that were receiving a lot of casualties from this frontline. This
:15:58. > :16:00.brother's been shot by a sniper, the sniper bullet has exploded inside
:16:01. > :16:04.him and it has caused a lot of pieces of his bone to break. You can
:16:05. > :16:10.see the bone is shattered and you can see the shrapnel. We have just
:16:11. > :16:16.been to one of the hospitals in Aleppo. Yes, that was a bomb... The
:16:17. > :16:20.electricity has gone off, there are two patients in the theatre is about
:16:21. > :16:27.to undergo surgery and the bottom floor of this hospital is in
:16:28. > :16:31.complete darkness. I saw a man die, he came in with a gunshot wound to
:16:32. > :16:39.his face. As medics we are used to blood, guts, death, dying, but it is
:16:40. > :16:43.the needlessness of it all. It was the saddest thing to see, he had
:16:44. > :16:47.been brought in on his own, his family didn't know he had died.
:16:48. > :16:52.There is no dignity in death in a place like that. A British surgeon
:16:53. > :16:55.who recently volunteered in a hospital in the area for five weeks
:16:56. > :17:00.said he treated pregnant women deliberately targeted by government
:17:01. > :17:06.snipers. Our convoy members say they also see evidence of this. The
:17:07. > :17:10.snipers would have games. One-day they would see people brought in all
:17:11. > :17:13.shot in the shoulders, another day everyone would be shot in the
:17:14. > :17:23.ankles, another day they would be shot in the knee caps. Another day
:17:24. > :17:27.he would just fine they are targeting pregnant women. It's like
:17:28. > :17:35.a game to them. They are finding pregnant women and they are killing
:17:36. > :17:40.pregnant women. That their game. The midst of this war zone, normal life
:17:41. > :17:44.sometimes goes on. But it comes with risks. There was a young child, a
:17:45. > :17:48.young girl, six-year-old, brought in because she had fallen off a swing.
:17:49. > :17:52.The surgeon that saw her said it didn't make sense, he asked the
:17:53. > :17:58.parents, did she fall off the swing? How high was it? Then he found a
:17:59. > :18:01.bullet in her midbrain. You think what kind of sick person would take
:18:02. > :18:11.a shot at a six-year-old who's just swinging and having a good time in a
:18:12. > :18:18.park? We have just had to take a slight detour. As you can see
:18:19. > :18:19.there's a roadblock here. That's not very good, there are sniper shot
:18:20. > :18:47.wounds through those. The team tear through sniper lined
:18:48. > :18:53.streets to get to hospitals. It was slightly kamikaze and really pushing
:18:54. > :18:57.it. If it is written for me to die there that is why I am going. That's
:18:58. > :19:01.not what I want to do, I have family at home and children, but if the
:19:02. > :19:07.world was doing what it was supposed to be doing I wouldn't have to risk
:19:08. > :19:13.my life and do this. Possibly an airstrike hit this place. There are
:19:14. > :19:27.still civilians in here. There are children here. Life continues. The
:19:28. > :19:30.whole mission is a risk from the start, everyone drives in on the
:19:31. > :19:35.wrong side of the road in foreign countries, through torrential rain
:19:36. > :19:38.and snow. There's no point in getting all the way to Syria and
:19:39. > :19:42.getting stuff to where it's not needed. Don't get me wrong when I
:19:43. > :19:46.say it's not needed, it is, but it is more needed in deeper areas, for
:19:47. > :19:54.example in Aleppo where we went this time, they've not had aid for such a
:19:55. > :19:59.long time. This is total and utter carnage, nothing but carnage. There
:20:00. > :20:03.needs to be a structured way of getting humanitarian aid to the
:20:04. > :20:05.whole of Syria. This is a massive crisis, more humanitarian safe
:20:06. > :20:08.corridors need to be committed to Syria and unfortunately we're not
:20:09. > :20:16.going to wait for a political solution before we're going to do
:20:17. > :20:22.something. In one hospital they find seven-year-old Mohammed. We found
:20:23. > :20:27.this kid, his mum passed away, his brother passed away, he didn't have
:20:28. > :20:33.any family. When the doctors go for lunch and dinner they would take
:20:34. > :20:37.him. This is the future, look at the smile. These are people's houses
:20:38. > :20:50.that are just lying reduced to rubble. It is quite difficult to
:20:51. > :20:53.see. That's better. This was a person's house. Yeah, people's
:20:54. > :20:57.houses. They have had to break this door, form this door through a wall
:20:58. > :21:07.just to form a path, a safe path, from inside one end of the building
:21:08. > :21:10.to the other. People watch this and they probably think these guys are
:21:11. > :21:13.heroes, they are doing something amazing. But really we've not done
:21:14. > :21:20.nothing. These people inside Syria lived through that every single day,
:21:21. > :21:25.that is their life. We really need to help these people big-time. We
:21:26. > :21:35.need to help them. We have to help them.
:21:36. > :21:42.The convoy are all home safely. Back to their day jobs and fundraising
:21:43. > :21:45.for the next trip. The group post videos and pictures on Facebook and
:21:46. > :21:50.Twitter, showing people what they have seen, what they have lived,
:21:51. > :21:54.just for a little while. Does it feel a little bit like home now? It
:21:55. > :21:59.actually has taken over my home from here, England doesn't feel I'm any
:22:00. > :22:07.more, Syria feels home now. I got an attachment to Syria, as with the
:22:08. > :22:11.people. Last time I left my house I said goodbye to my mum and everyone
:22:12. > :22:14.obviously. Obviously I was emotional and I was upset because I didn't
:22:15. > :22:19.know what was going to happen in Syria, because it's getting more
:22:20. > :22:26.dangerous. Everytime we go back it seems to be getting worse and worse.
:22:27. > :22:30.But when I left Syria I found it more difficult to leave Syria and
:22:31. > :22:40.when I left home. Because I lived with these people and they are my
:22:41. > :22:44.brothers and my sisters. Another convoy, an even bigger one this
:22:45. > :22:53.time, plans to leave the UK in a matter of weeks.