Carrying their equipment over the backs, journalists have crossed hundreds of kilometers into dangerous territories in Syria in order to cover the battles against the ISIS terrorist group. They have traversed treacherous terrain to enter areas that have seen the deaths of hundreds of innocents. They recounted to Asharq Al-Awsat their perilous journey through war and coverage of the most gruesome of crimes committed by the extremist group. Some have interviewed some of the most notorious fighters in the world. They have seen how they surrendered and announced their military defeat after years of deliberately creating terror throughout the world through grisly beheadings and the immolation of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasaesbeh. The journalists can now finally bear witness to the end of ISIS in one of the Middle East’s most troubled regions.Hisham and the challenge of relaying facts Hisham Arafat hails from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain. A Kurdish-Syrian journalist, he has covered the battles against ISIS in Iraq’s Mosul and Syria’s towns of Manbij, Raqqa and Deir Ezzour. Since 2006, he has worked in both Arabic and English for local and international media. He worked for al-Sharjah TV in the United Arab Emirates and as a corresponded in Iraqi Kurdistan for The Independent in England. Currently, Arafat is works for the English section of Kurdistan 24 television. During his English coverage of the recent al-Baghouz battles in eastern Syria, he focused on the developments on the ground as opposed to other foreign media that only covered certain aspects of the battles. “I focused mainly on the areas that were recently liberated from ISIS. I covered details that reveal ISIS’ means of defense and offense,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. He added that journalists are required to have greatly accuracy and objectivity in clarifying the developments on the ground. He also interviewed several ISIS members as they surrendered in Baghouz. The greatest dangers he faced was the gunfire, he recalled. He spoke of the threat of snipers, mines and shrapnel. “During one incident, we were located some 400 meters away from ISIS. We could clearly witness their activity during a temporary truce. Just then, shrapnel fell all around us. It was a very scary moment,” he said. In March, the US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared victory against ISIS in Baghouz. They added, however, that a new phase in battling the group had started in combating its sleeper cells that remain a major threat to the region and entire world.Naz confronts brainwashing Naz Seyed, a journalist for the Arabic al-Ghad television, was among the first to report the defeat of ISIS in Baghouz. A resident of Qamishli in northeastern Syria, she recounted to Asharq Al-Awsat her overwhelming relief at the group’s defeat. “It makes you forget all of what we suffered in the long months we spent in the desert amid the fierce battles and incessant rocket fire,” she added. “I will never forget those moments for the rest of my life.” After the defeat in Baghouz, she, along with other journalists, entered the last remaining ISIS encampment. “We were targeted by snipers deployed on a nearby hill. I realized at the moment that some members were until the very end still committed to the organization’s extremist ideology. I asked myself what was a fighter? Who was he? What made him still adhere to this creed even after the collapse of the so-called caliphate?” She spoke of the shoddy camp and piles of scrapped cars at the camp. “These images demonstrate that the ISIS fighters and their families were still convinced of their ideology. They still had complete trust in their leader (Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi. The war is not over and the upcoming phase will be the hardest in combating sleeper cells.” Seyed covered the battle in Syria’s Afrin, Manbij and al-Tabaqa and ISIS’ defeat in Raqqa. “The Baghouz battle was the most difficult given the treacherous desert terrain. The most difficult thing I witnessed was how some individuals were still attached to ISIS’ ideology despite its military defeat. The challenge now lies in how to raise awareness and rehabilitate adherents to return them to normal life, especially the children,” she told Asharq Al-Awsat. She recalled how she was cursed by ISIS families after the Baghouz defeat. “The women would shout ‘ISIS was here to stay and it is spreading.’ The children would raise their thumb and chant extremist slogans they learned from the group.”Raman remembers ISIS convoys For journalist Raman Isa, director of the Ornina network in Syria’s Hasakeh, the image he will remember the most is that of convoys that were transporting suspected ISIS families from liberated territories. “After the defeat, the children would raise their small hands and show the victory sign. They would salute journalists as they crossed humanitarian passages with signs of joy on their faces for finally being rid of the group’s oppression,” he said. The civilians used to live in fear of escaping ISIS. “They used to recount tales of how they used to flee at night or during heavy storms. ISIS used to terrorize the people by threatening to carry out assassinations or a suicide attack.”