The Syrian Civil War Pt.7: Life Under ISIS in Raqqa

Conflicted returns with another episode in our series on the Syrian Civil War, welcoming a new guest onto the show to tell us about her experiences of living life under ISIS in the city of Raqqa – Rania Ali.

Rania tells us about her experiences growing up in Raqqa, and the city's rich history - a place of conflict throughout the centuries. As the Arab Spring protests began, Rania became involved, and she details the secretive nature of organizing protests under a repressive regime. She tells us about the development of the conflict in Syria, the impact of the Free Syrian Army's liberation of the city in 2013, telling us about her family's exodus from Raqqa, and the devastation upon their return.

But a key memory for Rania in the conflict was the rise of ISIS. She tells us about the resilience and courage of her community, particularly the women who organized protests and resisted the extremist regime, despite the grave risks involved. We hear about her harrowing experiences living during the ISIS caliphate, the threats she faced, and her eventual escape from the city, alongside the thrilling and tragic stories of her friends.

New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you’ll have to join our Conflicted Community.

Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to hello@messageheard.com!

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices