According to the SDF fighters, it is difficult to go to the frontlines in the Great Battle in Raqqa and come back, because there are open areas and the gangs have snipers positioned there. We waited for the panzer by the city’s entrance. As soon as it came, fighters ran to the panzer and opened its doors: One YPJ fighter was wounded, so they took her out of the panzer to the ambulance.

We were a group of journalists. The fighters allowed us to ride the panzer to the frontlines of the war. We got on. As soon as I was in the panzer, I noticed the photographs of the martyrs first. The driver had the martyr photos to the front where they will be seen. It is always hot at noon in Raqqa, but inside the panzer it was hotter. We got off by the fighters’ positions in the Qadisiya neighborhood. There had been intense clashes here one day before we came. ISIS gangs attacked the SDF fighters with a bomb-laden vehicle, then the gangs attacked Hitin and Qadisiya neighborhoods in groups. According to the fighters, all these attacks were foiled and many of the attackers were killed. Our location was between Qadisiya and Hitin.

The two neighborhoods had been named by the Baath regime. They are both names of historic wars. One YPJ fighter, called Hevala Şervin, greeted us. She was very into her tablet - she was coordinating the war. She was informing the coalition of the coordinates of fighters. We were curious, so we leaned in to see. There was a photograph on the tablet’s cover. I asked who it was.

“She was my martyred commander, she is in my heart but I wanted to keep her around in photographs as well.”

Two civilians came to the women’s position. The fighters surrounded them, asking questions. The two women’s homes were close to the positions. They insisted that they didn’t want to leave their homes, so the fighters indulged them and didn’t move them from their homes.

That was when we heard bullets. They said it was the gangs’ snipers, that they shoot all the time. SDF fighters retaliated towards Deri neighborhood. Meanwhile, the fighters were preparing and eating food, and were laughing and joking. Nobody can imbue life with as much meaning as the fighters, but also nobody can play with life as much as them.