Clarissa Ward was in Istanbul recently speaking with a European jihadi who left Syria because of how terror-group ISIS has changed the nature of the war in Syria. Ward – a broadcast journalist – has been covering the war diligently and has spoken to many jihadists in Syria over the past few months.
Taking a break from her on-air and in-the-field duties, Ward today hosted a Facebook Q&A from London to field questions about ISIS, taking people behind the scenes of what it’s like to be a war correspondent and sharing her thoughts on situation.
Some highlights from the chat below, followed by the embedded post:
Libby Britain: How do you get into conflict zones like those in Syria when you go? What role do ‘fixers’ play in all the logistics that you need to coordinate to make that happen?
Clarissa Ward Getting in and out of conflict zones like Syria is extremely difficult and dangerous and sadly, at the moment, not really feasible. I would say that this most important thing is to find Syrians who you know and trust and have history with to be your eyes and ears on the ground. And you simply cannot travel with the support and protection of a major militant group.
Cameron Red Bird: Other than sitting here safe far from what’s going on over there how are we going to help the Christian militias forming over there?
Clarissa Ward: I would argue that forming more militias is not the answer. Christians and Muslims and all civilized people need to work together to to stomp out this ideology.
Nina D’Souza: From your time in Syria, what is what thing you have learned that you wish all Americans could know or understand?
Clarissa Ward I wish that Americans could understand that Islam is not the enemy and that many of the most devout and conservative Muslims in Syria, even those who would like to live in an Islamic State under sharia law, are appalled and saddened by the brutality of ISIS and have no desire to attack the West. The attitude for most is, leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone. But their voices have been drowned out by ISIS which is constantly baying for blood.