XOFRAN EL-RADİ

Baghdad- In 2014, ISIS took the control of many parts of Iraq. Then, an operation was launched against ISIS militants and they were defeated in Mosul. In December 2017, Iraqi forces took the control of the borders. In the clashes, many people were wounded and abducted. 28-year-old war correspondent Saja Al-Lami covered the war against ISIS. She told our news agency how people resisted ISIS.

“Fighters were like my family members”

Saja worked for a local newspaper as a reporter when the operation was launched against ISIS militants. She covered the operation at that time and stayed with the fighters. “The fighters were like my family members,” Saja said, “When the fighters made a plan to liberate an area; I prepared my material to cover the fight. I first called my family to inform them.” She gave what she had written to her colleagues, “If I fall a martyr, give these to my family,” she told her colleagues.

“The fighters developed a good friendship”

“Some fighters called me Hêzdar Bani. We prepared meals together and ate together. The fighters developed a good friendship; they were like a big family,” Saja told us her memories with the fighters.

Saja also talked about the relationship among the journalists covering the operation, “Journalists were very active and their activity encouraged me. They empowered me to work harder.”

She becomes a war correspondent

“My goal was to cover the fight against the enemy. I became a war correspondent when covering the Samara operation. I followed the operation until the Syrian border. I joined the operation to liberate Mosul,” Saja said her family didn’t want her to work as a journalist because of danger. “They always watched TV follow the news about ISIS attacks in Rojava. But they understood how I was determined to be a journalist. For this reason, they respected my decision.”

Saja is determined to work as a war correspondent in her life.