麻豆约拍

Lyse Doucet talks to those who have survived - or are surviving - the conflict in Syria.

Five years ago, protests in Syria as part of the Arab Spring, were put down with violence by the Syrian Government. The mass protests quickly became an armed rebellion, with increasing sectarian involvement. As the conflict escalated, other countries became involved with Russia commencing air strikes in September 2015, and areas of the country becoming strongholds of so-called Islamic State militants.

The Syrian conflict has changed people's lives irrevocably and, in this series of interviews, they reflect on the situation in which they find themselves.

Episode 2: Alia lives in a rural area which is in the hands of rebel forces. Her son joined up to fight the regime, but was killed. His body was brought back to the village. "Even though he had died twelve hours earlier, he was still bleeding," she says, "that is how I know he was a martyr."

Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for 麻豆约拍 Radio 4.