What it takes to smuggle information out of IS strongholds in Syria
Media activists in Deir ez-Zor face daily death threats by the Islamic State, but the danger is not stopping many of them from documenting what is happening in the Syrian province.
ANTAKYA, Turkey — Clandestine media activism continues to provide invaluable information on Syria’s Deir ez-Zor region, inaccessible to international journalists but central to the fight against the Islamic State.
Key figures tend to be found and targeted there more than in the capital of the transnational jihadist enterprise, Raqqa. The mastermind behind the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was reportedly IS’ “emir of war” in Deir ez-Zor prior to returning to Europe.
