Fighting continues in Syria, where Kurdish troops from the People's Protection Units are facing down ISIS militants in Raqqa, Syria.
Syria's grinding seven-year war seems to have entered a new, and perhaps final stage.
Momentum is on the side of the Syrian troops backed by President Bashar al-Assad, as their forces push into ISIS territory on eastern fronts. That's sending the ISIS fighters retreating into their strongholds in the cities of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, leaving some midsized towns like Suknah free of ISIS militants.
Although the Syrian government restricts access to much of the country, including the front lines, occasionally a journalist is permitted to travel with the army.
That's how the BBC's Lyse Doucet made her way to Suknah with Syrian government commanders.
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