A few kilometers from al-Naim Square, another smaller but equally notorious roundabout has also come back to life; however, for some, a shadow still looms over the square, known as the "clock tower square." (Credit: Delil Souleiman/AFP)
Abu Abdo cast anxious glances in the rearview mirror. Images of horror still haunted him. There, on Route 42 that seemed to cut through miles of desert to reach the city of Raqqa, at the entrance of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), the driver from Aleppo saw old shadows emerging on the dusty horizon."From 2014 onwards, Daesh fighters were positioned on the right side of the road. You could only cross it during the day. At night, you were doomed," he recalled with his big blue eyes. For three years, jihadist fighters would appear along this endless asphalt connecting the country to the east of the Euphrates. At the time, this area was under the surveillance of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which unscrupulously sent young souls to do their military service in this remote territory resistant to its power....
Abu Abdo cast anxious glances in the rearview mirror. Images of horror still haunted him. There, on Route 42 that seemed to cut through miles of desert to reach the city of Raqqa, at the entrance of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), the driver from Aleppo saw old shadows emerging on the dusty horizon."From 2014 onwards, Daesh fighters were positioned on the right side of the road. You could only cross it during the day. At night, you were doomed," he recalled with his big blue eyes. For three years, jihadist fighters would appear along this endless asphalt connecting the country to the east of the Euphrates. At the time, this area was under the surveillance of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which unscrupulously sent young souls to do their military service in this remote territory resistant to its...