Samîre Elawî is from the Selhebiyê village to the west of Raqqa. ISIS gangs ran over her 8 year old son with a car and killed him.

Speaking to ANF, Elawî said: “They murdered my son, and I can’t do anything about it. The only thing I can do is to visit my son’s grave every day and cry there. When the gangs learned of my visits they banned me from going to the cemetery.”

She let out a deep sigh and continued: “Even though I know that the gangs destroyed my son’s grave, the first thing I did when I came to the village is to visit my son’s grave.”

“THEY PUNISHED ME BECAUSE MY FACE WAS VISIBLE”

Elawî pointed to the child in her lap and said: “Two days before I gave birth to this child, the gangs sentenced me to a whipping. I told them I was pregnant, but they didn’t listen. They told me my face was visible when I was on the terracetop in my own home.”

“THE ONLY THING I WANT FROM THE SDF...”

Samîre was tense even while speaking with us, her eyes were darting around. She said she was afraid ISIS would come back.

Elawî's only hope is the SDF now: “The SDF should wipe out ISIS. When SDF fighters were approaching our village, they told me so, but I couldn’t believe it. I told myself, ‘Nobody knows about us, nobody cares about us’. I thought it was a dream.”

When the SDF came up, Samîre Elawî’s face lit up: “I still can’t believe it. Is this real, or is this a dream?”