The coalition could not beat IS solely by bombing and it lacked partners on the ground. Several of the more moderate groups the West had attempted to ally with were swept aside by IS, or joined the Islamists’ ranks. There was also a lack of reliable intelligence. The coalition needed people to infiltrate, gather information, and indicate targets.
A year had passed since Barack Obama unveiled a plan to train and equip a five-thousand-man force to fight against IS. The plan, which had been budgeted at half a billion dollars, was quickly passed by Congress but was stranded from the start. The men, who were to undergo a six-week training course, were to be extracted from war zones in Iraq and Syria and trained in Jordan, and then reintroduced into the conflict and equipped with advanced weaponry. The Americans ended up preparing sixty men. A quarter of the weapons arsenal disappeared into the hands of other militias in exchange for access on the ground. In addition, there were divisions between the United States and some of the coalition partners. The main aim of Turkey and the Arab states was to depose Bashar al-Assad; the United States was focused on destroying IS.
The Americans, British, and Russians, as well as the Arab states, tried to acquire assets on the ground in Syria. British intelligence had put a lot of resources into both infiltration and training. MI5 attempted to infiltrate mosques, Salafist organizations, and extremist groups to find people to act as informants on IS. Psychologists were used to find the right kind of individuals. Those enlisted underwent comprehensive personality tests to determine if they were the type who could easily slip over to the other side and in so doing become the most dangerous type of all—double agents with a stronger loyalty to IS than to the UK.
The men on Osman’s rescue team complained that they felt they were under surveillance. Someone was watching them, they believed. The two Norwegian girls had become a heavy burden on the shoulders of many.
Recently, numerous activists had been arrested and killed. They were paraded on video as traitors before being shot on camera. If IS could not find an activist, it took a relative in his place. One of the most prominent citizen journalists behind the group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, who’d managed to flee to Turkey, had to watch his own father being tied to a tree and shot, the entire scene professionally lit and filmed by a camera crew from the terror state’s communications department.
On June 1, Osman sent a picture of a snake and wrote: “IS is very close to Atmeh. Do you know what blood type your daughter has, A minus, A positive, B minus? Please try to put some pressure on the newspaper, we need money. People at the hospital need to be paid.”
On June 2, he sent a picture of a beheading. “An engineer from Jabal al-Zawiya.”
On June 5, he sent a reminder. “I need to pay the doctors at the hospital.”
On June 7, he sent a fresh reminder: “Where are you? What’s happened? Save us!”
Sadiq pleaded that he was trying. “I’m furious with the newspaper people. They haven’t sent me any money. They’re awaiting more information on the Norwegians, they’re particularly interested in a Norwegian sniper.”
At four in the morning, two days before his daughter was due to give birth, Sadiq wrote: “My life is turned upside down since the girls left. From bad to worse. They’re still brainwashed. They still want to be there. They’re happy living life in a place like that. I have no job, can’t find any work, my wife has gone to Somalia, I live with Ismael. Those who have helped me cannot help me for all eternity. No one can help me forever. Norway has helped me. I am broken, I don’t know what to do, everyone is fleeing Raqqa, and my daughters want to stay! How can we help them if they don’t realize themselves the huge mistake they’ve made? That is the problem. My daughters are not awake.”
The following night Osman responded: “ISIS has closed all the roads, everyone must stay in Raqqa.”
On June 10, Sadiq replied: “I have decided to take more care of my son, Ismael.”
June 12: “The roads are still blocked, the route out of Raqqa is closed, there are snipers everywhere. FSA has declared war on IS. They have ceased their attacks on Assad and have opened a front against IS. Oil is not coming out, gasoline costs a dollar per quart, prices have shot up, wages have been cut, aid organizations have stopped sending food supplies, the farmers can’t ship their produce, there are no vegetables. Raqqa is under siege. Patience is called for. Pray that the birth is delayed.”
June 15: “My younger daughter called me. She has not had the baby yet.”
Osman replied: “Things in Raqqa are turning worse for my boys. The chances of getting your girls out are worsening by the day. But we won’t give up. We’ll get to them before the birth.”
But the child came first.
On June 18, seventeen-year-old Leila became a mother. When the contractions became stronger, Imran had taken her to the hospital. Twelve hours after the birth, she had called her mother in Hargeisa to tell her everything had gone well. The baby was a girl, as she expected.
Sara had been jittery prior to the birth. Leila was narrow-hipped, as she herself had been, a build that had proved fatal for Sara and Sadiq’s firstborn.
Now they were grandparents.
They could rejoice in that when everything was over.
On June 20, Sadiq wrote to Osman: “My daughter has given birth to a daughter.”
June 21: “I have become a grandfather.”
June 22: Osman sent a video of a beheading he thought Sadiq might be able to sell.
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RAMADAN
“Dad is here! Aboo! Daddy!”
The boys rushed to meet him. The sensation of their little bodies crashing into him, how
