before he spoke to CNN. They were fleeing the city as his unit clashed with ISIS militants.

He didn't recognize them and they could barely recognize him. He had left a boy, he was now a man, a fighter.

"When I speak to them now, our conversation feels empty. There is nothing to say. I am not at ease and neither are they," he said. "When we are safe and the battle is over, I can rejoin them again."

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'We fight for peace'

For Inghazik, an SDF commander, her home may be gone forever. Like many in the SDF she believes it is her duty to rid Syria of ISIS, from theMediterranean to the Tigris.

She was born in Raqqa but ISIS took over her family home to use as a fighting position. She may never go back.

"We fight for peace," she said. "When it's over I would like to live somewhere where Kurds, Arabs, Christians, Sunnis can live together. It used to be like that in Raqqa. Not anymore."

Jagdab, just 17, tells how he recovered the body of a female fighter in Raqqa 20 days earlier.

She had stepped on a bomb and died on impact. Her legs were blown off and her face bloodied.

US airstrikes stuck bridges ahead of the battle for Raqqa to cut ISIS off from the outside world and prevent the escape of their leadership on the Euphrates river.

He wrapped her body in a blanket and