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Episode details

World Service,23 Nov 2013,26 mins

A Road Trip to War

Heart and Soul

Available for over a year

Catrin Nye follows the British Muslims risking their lives to deliver medical supplies, blankets and dried food to the thousands of people affected by the on-going civil war in Syria. The group travel overland through France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and finally to the Turkey-Syria border where they cross into Syria. They deliver aid by hand and dodge snipers to administer medical treatment in hospitals. The men fit the profile of those known to be going to fight in Syria and British counter terror police are tracking the group - resulting in delays, questioning and some not making it to Syria. There is a distinct lack of fear from everyone involved in the trip - a fearlessness that they put down to their religion and a belief that if they were to die that would be destiny. This is particularly evident inside Syria where the group take huge risks travelling deep into Aleppo. We follow the journey from tears in Manchester as family wave goodbye to relatives, all the way into Syria. We share the life changing journey to the front line of the Syrian war. What drives someone to take aid into their own hands and how responsible is it to do so? (Image: Muslim volunteers praying beside their aid vehicles)

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