Images of destruction on an apocalyptic scale. This was hell called bonnie in Northern Syria looked in late january 2015 after months of bitter fighting before the kurds were able to celebrate victory over the selfstyled Islamic State thanks also to u. S. Airstrikes. But their war against us would continue elsewhere for a further 4 long years until march 2019 when they conquered the terror groups last bastion. The wounds will take a long time to heal but the kurds are already rebuilding their country and the various parties to the conflict in syria all have their own plans for the postwar era but what do the kurds want here in role yaba as they call their territory in Northern Syria. Our journey to riyadh begins on a ferry boat taking us across the river tigris subject of legend since ancient times and which now follows the border between modern day iraq and syria. Here the river marks the eastern boundary of traditional kurdish territory in Northern Syria which is divided into 3 major regions. As iraq in the east centers on the city of commission in the euphrates region on call bani in early 2018 Turkish Forces attacked and occupied the Western Region of africa in what they refer to as an antiterrorist operation they also reinforce their border as seen here and call body. Years previously on korea had already placed an embargo against or yaba insisting its rulers worldling of the banned Kurdish Workers Party the p k k. Weve been to rajas on 2 previous occasions in 20142015 when the kurds were just beginning to build their own administration. For the next few years the region was unsafe for journalists to travel to until late summer 2018. So what had become of roy and the ambitious plans of the people we had met back then. Our Journey Continues to. The biggest city in. The influx of refugees fleeing the war has seen the population of rabbi increase from 4 to an estimated 5000000. In addition to the kurds is also home to a syrian army and arabs and turkmen when the Syrian Government withdrew from the Northern Region during the civil war in 2013 the groups took joint control of their territory. We 1st met to a colleague of income usually in 2014 when we accompanied him on his way home he used to live in switzerland he now works as a presenter on the run off the t. V. Station like all journalists there he was armed in case of islamised attacks a few months before we met his daughter who had been killed in one such attack. How does he see the situation today. Is in vain the threats have diminished but so have the opportunities for work. What we want now is for other people to see and hear what we have managed to do here. 60 journalists were killed for example but ive rarely heard anyone talk about it. Seemed content journalists are still in danger. Exists now not just my yes but also from turks and from the Syrian Regime and its militias. Looking back to see assess the establishment of Self Government which was still in its infancy during our original visit. The people in charge made a lot of mistakes and initially. Yes but over time theyve gathered experience and improved for the. Turks are going crazy because they always thought there was laughable and would be gone again after a few months. But now theyre noticing as we are there has continuously evolved and. I hope that over time well be able to bring about real change here for syria not just for a. Move. In 2016 representatives of the various ethnic groups announced the creation of the Democratic Federation of north syria known as reopened. The autonomous government of the region meets here in america we asked officials about the objectives of their model for society. To make a song so real war we found ourselves fighting was not with weapons but changing relations between the genders over 5000 years the male dominated mentality has become entrenched here its not easy to abolish you might see women everywhere but its still often men who have the final say its a lose really to believe that you can change that mentality in the space of just 20 years here in raleigh yahveh weve had to rely more on our own resources than on outside help. It was over half suddenly slutsky. 2017 saw the 1st elections and where yaba which we are told were held on the basis of grassroots democratic principles. Very clear now 1st elections were at the smallest local level so much so much local administration forms the basis of society. But just we then held elections at the 2nd level for city and regional manager shit. They were a bit difficult due to events in africa but in the normal election. Since the arabs here were liberated from minus control and became familiar with our model for society theyve now become increasingly receptive to the project their liberated arab towns now govern themselves and its precisely those arab towns that are so important for our administration but one thing i would like to emphasize due to arab culture women there had little influence in society you know our system of selfgovernment with they now enjoy equal footing with men. The quiet features a little tree bearing the photos and names of young fighters who fell in the battle for riyadh its one of the many places where people remember their martyrs as they are seen here. The war has exacted a heavy toll on the Younger Generation but that has not stopped people here and their determination to continue defending their country. To question and were happy that we women are also able to take up arms on it that used to be impossible now we too are defending our country and are available wherever were needed to even if. Its on like here all. I asked are barbarians. They have nothing to do with islam and much youre not considered in his law you do not cut off peoples heads. Thats what were defending our children against and why we are here to fight on the turkish armys invasion of africa that overwhelmed by a wave of Refugees International aid was conspicuous by its absence complains one of the representatives they all this to us is the. Constant doing anything because. This is system. He refuses our results. This is without anything. You set out to meet some of the refugees and arrive at a seemingly never ending came. The Turkish Military offensive left an estimated 200000 people displaced from africa 2001000 will see tens of thousands more arrive from areas liberated from yes. And. Some have found a temporary home in the abandoned village of til next room near tilton mayor 70 families from africa now live here with their stories related to civilian victims of the turkish invasion. We didnt want to leave our houses and property behind but we had to because of the bomber plants. Children like these here were simply killed their bodies were everywhere. Some had severed legs others had no arms. People were desperate and didnt know what to do. We had to flee iraq the bombs fell and i were planes and we had to leave our home my. Job to hold the ticket then. We had lands and a house and children went to school there and we were unable to take anything with us just the clothes on our backs just what we had to leave behind all undocumented land and money. Everything. All we could think about was saving ourselves and getting out of their village going to get. The best ally in the world to hear about the air raids where people that line an indefinite though the settlement was that nobody saw the planes above us being there was no response. Just for 55. 00 days after. The coverage we all fled while the planes bombed us it was impossible to leave by car and we had to escape by the mountains priority was getting to safety for 2 whole days i couldnt give my child any milk. I grabbed her like this every time i got loud she was scared and cried harder when we love her view of the sea or. The village used to be home to christian assyrians before it was destroyed by us. Like thousands of others from africa its new residents 1st found refuge in the overcrowded camp and sheba. Into that trial there werent even any tense there when we arrived we spent your 1st 20 days living and sleeping on the streets. Sometimes it was cold and rainy which cost the lives of a lot of. Children there were no doctors there was no water practically nothing to eat and there were too many people we had to get out of there. I met that. The kurds were abandoned by the International Community and left to their own fate following the turkish invasion says t. V. Presenter. He witnessed events in africa 1st hand the could be. Heard always had huge hopes in europe especially germany. But what we saw in reality was very saddening. We couldnt believe what we saw in africa for example. When the 1st tanks arrived with the turkish invasion and the. German made tanks do it ship and said. Nobody challenge that. And thats why ive lost a lot of hope i had in europe. We defended ourselves against the terrorists against us then the americans arrived so i said 1st we have to do something and if we do something good then i think other people will follow and again not because of us but because of their own interests you know we have a lot of water here and were going to. Gold and phosphates. Our next stop is the tea shrine dam on the river euphrates the region borders territory occupied by turkey and is home to one of the biggest reservoirs of water in rwanda. The dam was the scene of fierce fighting during the civil war whoever controlled the dam also controlled electricity production caracas and aleppo. In december 2015 it was captured by kurdish led forces. That initially had been taken by the Free Syrian Army in 2012 before being conquered by us in 2014. Dam has 6 turbines even now it still has to be protected from potential attacks but currently the engineers have problems of a completely different nature to focus on. Is the head of the regional Self Governments energy commission. Its an old contract he explains requires turkey to supply. A guaranteed amount of water from the river euphrates. River the motegi most suited to has between 20032011 when the Syrian Government was in control here the amount of water was over 500 cubic metres per 2nd more than required by contract. In the years 2015 and 2016 when i s were here it was 643 cubic meters. Then after the dam was liberated from i. A. S. It was just 394 cubic meters. So this and in 2018 the level dropped to 235 cubic meters the students. Do so after the islamists have been driven out of turkey used the water supply as a weapon against us and has been causing huge problems for people in the region is going to. The water in the dam has fallen dramatically mooted deep details the disastrous consequences hospitals bakeries and farms suffer from frequent power shortages with only 2 turbines running he explains its extremely difficult to maintain even a rudimentary supply of electricity at the same time he and his team have to deal with the damage wrought by the Free Syrian Army and Islamic State. In the fight they had with the limited means available to us we managed to restore the dam to a relatively good condition. But we urgently need spare parts weve already fitted the parts so we have moved course you know. The ability of the teacher in dam to guarantee royalties Electricity Supply in the future depends on turkey he says the fear at the headquarters of the Syrian Democratic forces and i mean its a is that on current will continue to use every means at its disposal to prevent an atomic kurdish region in its backyard the s. D. F. Are an alliance of militia groups in which the kurds constitute the main fighting force. They were also supported by 2000 american troops and early 2019 news of their possible withdrawal caused an outcry. A look is important you know its not only the british occupational talking but its kind of media tends to change so i think the. Situation is cited. By bringing people from different areas from different if the components or. Are digital photos from different places whether ready it is because from them goodbye you make them stay off. The people often to come back to their homes following the events in africa say the s. D. F. There was an increase in skirmishes with the turkish army. They are starting small. Forces so we respond in defense of for. Using. Theyre accusing us of being rude to their security and thats just. Sort of its the lies. The vicious gates the borders of syria the spokesman is eager to point out the importance of close cooperation with the civilian representatives of the autonomy government nor yaba. Any. Order. The. No. For. The civilian or. Station as. We continue our journey to visit a base held by a unit of the all women white p. J. Brigade. The young women of radiata have developed a fundamentally new concept of the role of vocal society and also as regards the military for years women fought alongside men in the battle against the terrorist militias of i. D. s among kurdish combat units their claim to make up almost one quarter of troop numbers. Welcome to this. These 2 commanders have seen front line action at a variety of theaters in the war and civilian life same bahar was a stage actress. And it shows once the war is over id like to see a change in peoples attitudes and for us to continue developing our project for a society where you know. A lot of young women are keen to sign up and fight at an early age they have to be 18 however before they can be accepted for combat duty the moment when we began our revolution in well yeah it was also a revolution for women nobody ever imagined it would be possible for men and women to fight shoulder to shoulder us come raids working together for days at a time zone but nobody could have hoped for that but now weve done it. How most men and women have equal rights here they always make decisions jointly in our mix structures of selfgovernment that. Women have been the initiators of many ideas that would previously have been unthinkable. The banner at the entrance to this womans cooperative in a mood proclaims the beauty of women. The group of 10 women join forces in order to become more independent overcoming initial opposition from their husbands. So full of here in the middle east women do not have equal rights they are meant to remain invisible and on educating but we made a break with that mentality this is a unique project here and a mood women now have a public presence and are running a shop where we buy and sell everything ourselves and you know that on the other side and women are also our customers here busy enough is not ok the only thing men are allowed to do here is shop. This little bit. Is it is that when men used to count money they would often say to each other let me do it you count like a woman but thats over now. The shop sells both clothes the women have made themselves and additional stocks they have to buy from elsewhere to show us that way this is our revolution. We have our women fighting at the front but the work we do is just as important you could see it as an interior front as the soldiers you know that. There are also plans for another womens project in a mood of an entire shopping street one exclusively by women the Health Care System is still under construction but otherwise the womens village of jean wore outside de blasio has already been completed women are determined to be in charge of their own lives here. From germany has been assisting their efforts. To found the im thinking that the women moving in here are we doing this who have lost their husbands all members of their family in the war zone some of the women have had trouble at home such as Domestic Violence for me and. If they want to free themselves from challenging situations and find a new home here. And of course there are women who just want to live together here. The 30 houses were built with clay bricks in accordance with ecological and traditional construction methods ensuring their cool in the summer and warm in the winter. But its so impressive you notice how a lot of men who come here are initially skeptical and have difficulty imagining what this is supposed to be. And thats about even last its a completely different working atmosphere here which gives the men who work here food for thought. Ive been learning a huge amount here. Its amazing to see the village growing and to see the links going deeper day by day both between the women in the local committee and with surrounding villages and for all the new developments make me want to stay here longer this is. Nothing i have. More Journey Continues to call bonnie on the border to turkey. A city the world looked on with bated breath in late 2014 and early 2015 and it was in call bonnie but not just the fate of roy but also the course of the civil war in syria would be decided. We managed to reach call body right after its liberation and we still remember the images of a destroyed city in large parts razed to the ground now we experience a different call bonnie at 1st glance it looks just like any other. City in the region when we were here in early 2015 most of the people we met were kurdish fighters most of the inhabitants had fled but soon after the liberation the population returned and made bonding a city buzzing with life again. Were surprised to see how little of the destruction is still visible and decide to take a closer look. By the turn of 2015 body had been reduced to ruins with 80 percent of the city destroyed. Slow chasing love. How could the city be resurrected. How would people ever be able to live here again. The battle for it lasted 134. 00 days. Ah yes deployed 50 tanks and 7000 troops and its assault on a city of over 100000 people. The kurds defended their city and house to house fighting initially outnumbered outgunned with their 5000 fighters and weapons that were either outdated herself built. Thanks to u. S. Airstrikes the tide continued to turn in their favor. By the end of january 2015 the city was under kurdish control but fighting continued in the surrounding region. By us had overrun some 365 villages but now the kurds were recapturing them in the process puncturing biass aura of invincibility called body was now the turning point in the war against us and the beginning of the end of its selfproclaimed caliphate. And for the kurds a beacon of their resistance to. This is whats left of a school that like so many others was destroyed by ground battles and air strikes. Its where pervert used to be a teacher. This is where we 1st met him before he worked for us as an interpreter. With overhead showing us around a destroyed Industrial Area together with a group of kurdish journalists an area that had seen particularly fierce fighting. Out of the result of the government. These workshops were used by mechanics serving Islamic State to repair vehicles and build car bombs the walls are covered in graffiti glorifying is. A pervert had shown us a tunnel where he and other local sought shelter during air raids. Like today perper works as a journalist we accompanied him as he returned to the neighborhood where i guess had its deadly workshops but here too there are relatively few physical scars from the war between us and the kurdish y. P. G. Forces. In 2015 you could barely walk in this area because of these trucks in the rubble in these sports that im standing. At that time what do you think this will. Be do you fight there are those people who came back during the war we do not recognize these areas again because now its clean the whole was peeved in this area this is the like normal people thought were. You can see the shops everywhere. Freedom square had practically been reduced to 2 dimensions back then. This is where we arranged an interview with n. P. R. News leader then called president of the co bonnie canton. Now hes a member of the autonomy governments executive council. Practically the only physical reminders of the conflict are the countless bullet holes in the facade of the administrative building. Which. We have a lot of social projects of our own but we dont want to divided syria thats. Whats happened in the halls and we want to United Country with a democratic basis. Where all social groups are able to live on an equal footing. And according to their cultures and the bolivian mother we believe that social problems cannot be solved militarily. Only by peaceful and equal coexistence between us new groups. And this could become an example for the entire middle east not we have supported this enough or in many ways and are doing it here in co bonnie. There are a number of promises from abroad to help reconstruction he reports but none were kept. On the scene other so we didnt wait for outside help we still have a lot of work to do we have destroyed houses and People Living in our shop we want to help them forget that they much here. Over 50 percent of call body has been rebuilt says and for business we go to visit one of the new residential districts. After the war people thought they were in a way to rebuild their houses. This small part where rebuild due to the help 1 which came to 2 people but 3 more slowly. Only this this well things were because of money reconstruction as their areas were rebuilt by people by their own. But anyway its good that now we see when you rebuild it after this mass destruction. The war devastated cop on its infrastructure when we were here in 2015 the city had no Drinking Water or electricity. This was what was left of one of the main shopping streets many of those returning had to live in emergency shelters. This week it was the haiti clashes and every 3 days there were a curtain. Where using curtains to. Be deified theres a time. Now you can see the life normalized. You know its very crowded people are shopping here the shops were normal like for. Today the shops appear well stocked and shoppers and roy yaba can buy practically everything again unlike in 2014 when supplies were disrupted. Turkeys and bargo in the region had a severe impact on the peoples daily life. Many items had to be smuggled into the country at great expense in the meantime supply routes are now up and working via syria and iraq. Many people in africa fled to call body following the turkish invasion. Such as this family who have since found a place to stay with relatives. And to make regular calls home in which they hear about constant harassment from the new rulers in africa. Them about the woman up to them some of the relatives who stayed behind were put under pressure to leave it but if you leave and they put people from good in your house they steal your gold and if they want to arrest you they just do it that you want to give it up everyone is under constant surveillance. And they make arbitrary arrests. Of people who dont eventually have the big get to meet lee forced people to go to the mosque you know that women have to wear a long black dress. These are there are no laws for everyone whether youre kurdish or from an appeal to 100. 00. And to the kurds put up any resistance. To battle with just the kurdish militias forthright. But how can you fight off a member of nato for 60 days with all their weaponry its impossible. The kurds tried everything they could to stop them but they failed to. Meet. This pharmacy in the center of call body belongs to men off to carney who was also among the people we met in 2015. Back then medication wasnt desperately short supply but not today. The situation has improved a lot by maybe 70 percent we hope things will continue to improve and that the roads will reopen that will make it easier to get medication for local people. Want to. Come 2015 we filmed minoff get conny collecting urgently needed medicines from the cities bombed out pharmacies. He also looked after people would stayed in cobol and despite the fighting. 1000 refugees from the area surrounding called bani had found refuge in the border zone between syria and turkey stranded without outside help. For the turks refused to let them across the border for the pharmacist help to provide the north what they needed as best as he could. But all too often he ran out of medication. That might be put i would say it was really tough for them and we had to wait ages for medication to arrive if it did at all. We had no choice but to use medication past its expiring date and one that. Almost all the road links are now open again and or we hope that the prices will now fall as well. In 2015. Took us to see the local hospital which lay in. And after being blown up by us. It had been equipped with modern facilities thanks also to International Aid from the likes of frankfurt based medical international which donated medication blood bank and ambulances. Following the destruction of the hospital doctors had set up a makeshift clinic in a basement they treated both injured soldiers and civilians Emergency Medical Care with the war raging above ground and with the doctors on duty around the clock. For the river. To a minute was among those who continued to work here even during the fiercest fighting seen in co bonnie. When we shot this footage 5 badly injured fighters from the front were brought in next door. 2 of them died that same night. This is one of the 2 new hospitals the kurds were since able to build and. We managed to track down a med he was on his day off which is why we met him at home with his family. The war is still not over thats left its mark 70 where. The people are not on a sound psychological constitution theyre extremely anxious ill be there we nor our children will ever be able to forget all of us. Theres still the smell of gunpowder in the air and the souls of the fallen used to live among us. Their souls are still there. Despite all thats happened. We would be glad to see things stay this way and carry on. Weve made a lot of progress in the last few years whether in government or elsewhere theres been a change for the positive despite all our shortcomings but the International Community only talks about murdered children and Human Rights Violations in ghouta after instilled in human beings. What could be the long term impact of this dreadfully long war on people and why yaba and. For how Many American soldiers came home from vietnam and needed psychological care for many years we have thousands of people here and hundreds died in our arms because we didnt have the medical means to save. People are plagued by the uncertainty about the americans. Will happen if they stay or leave. And those the years have also taken their toll on him says dr amen as he shows us a photo. Of us much just when this was taken i thought about it its not even 8 years old and this is me today. But you think it was 20 or 30 years ago. Outside the hospital we meet again. As is commonly known was already past middle age back then but he too took up arms to join the fight against i. A. S. He saw action on a number of fronts including called bonnie until its definitive liberation. It was there that we 1st met the man whod become our escort when entering neighborhoods that had been laid waste. Going it alone would have been taking a deadly risk. We arrived shortly after the fighting had ended the streets strewn dead you harvests. And hidden mines such as this one images that would haunt us for some time. Conning is accompanying us to a hill on the outskirts of co bonnie to the place where we 1st met. I hope the kabbani becomes an example for the whole world so many of our friends have shed their blood for this earth and they continue to do so. Should be a symbol we want people from everywhere to be able to live together here. You want to live it to the. Always means destruction. Unfortunately the great powers always act according to their own interests. They take their proxy wars to our cities. And other places. We are against war i am a soldier but i am against war. We were forced to take up arms for our peace and security we have no love of bloodshed and war but unfortunately we had no choice. A lot of my comrades fell in the battle for. Today only 3 of them are still alive. I think everyone else was killed we were 174 fighters and now just 3 are alive. The kurds paid a high price for the liberation of 4. 00 yahveh more than 21000. 00 injured and over 11000. 00 killed. In many places they remember the region it started with memorials to them. The a tautness government has given local women the use of a large building in kabbani 2 women have organized a range of projects including the womens refuge as such it is an educational institution. But staff also mediate it when problems arise with marriages families and local neighborhood issues. Theres a closure to we are working against Domestic Violence and against polygamy we also want to ensure the tass sons and daughters have equal claims to inheritance is it and they want to be shed equally between them instead of the sons getting preferential treatment but we also want to ensure that marriages involving young people under the age of 18 off a bit in. A visit to one of them would choose the city. But we dont want to do this by force we want to bring about change over time through education. And look the most of the day this. Whether young or old despite the danger posed by us women here are determined to defend their projects at all costs. The building located on a thoroughfare in kabbani is still under construction a temporary school was housed here in 2015 immediately after the end of the fighting. Children coming fall internally to the basement rooms was a symbol of hope at the time. 2 but it was hugely challenging for the pupils they were precious few books pens or pencils and often the heater had no oil. And. Now the proper owners of the buildings live here again. That young people would if you were going to flee back then had lost everything. And we didnt lock the doors when we left i thought. If someone wants to break in theres no point in the damage in the door as well because. One of the. Difficult. Is that food is expensive. Not another job. Or someone. Unemployment is a major problem in your yaba which officially named itself the Autonomy Administration of north and east syria following the liberation of other areas from the us in 2018. But despite the manifold problems people here are inventive says she really. Theyve learned to live with hardship and make the most of their opportunities. He himself is installed in a special machine in the back of his van offering the best cappuccino anywhere in the area he boasts a range of coffee products in his drummed up a loyal clientele and next to no time his business is booming. Not far away is another street left as it was in 2015 locals are planning to set up a museum here to preserve the memory of the war i guess launched several attempts to break through here to turkey in order to control the border crossings. For the children the area has become a playground. Having lived through the war theyre now growing up and todays were yaba where we witnessed many new developments on our return. And many of the images well remember speaks volumes we were deeply impressed by how much the kurds have already managed to achieve despite the endless difficulties they are determined to expand on their model for. Our journey ends where it began by the river tigris goods are still being moved across to be a precarious looking pontoon bridges and the number of trucks is increasing again a symbol of optimism for iaapa say the kurds. Despite all the challenges facing them and despite the turkish embargo they now have reestablished trading links with the outside world. These are the last of their kind. Of whole species on the brink of extinction. Garden gnomes are dying out. Their natural habitat is under threat. And they have very few safe haven fla. Is it already too late for the garden gnomes. Their romance in 30 minutes on w. Robots theyre still in the development phase. But its going to happen when the world. Will humans and machines be able to peacefully coexist or are we on the verge of a robot colors. Place if we just bubble of this totally unprepared with our heads in the sand fusing to think about what could go wrong then the face of this is probably going to be the biggest mistake in human history. Artificial intelligence is now spreading through our societies they are experts be able to agree on ethical guidelines or will this Technology Create deadly new autonomous weapon systems. Plague school robot collapse stores aug 14th on t. W. Such. Claims such place. This is date of the news live but a police in hong kong fired tear gas the prodemocracy protesters as they defiant warnings to cancel the mobs and block intersections in several parts of the city is fresh demonstrations come out of the citys native boutwell took on the protesters any concessions look alike to hong kong also coming up. A russian opposition policy