The Battle for Our Beliefs

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Owen Bennett Jones introduces tales of resilience, endurance and bravery from around the world. Gabriel Gatehouse tells the stories of two women he met near Raqqa, Syria. One is a young Kurdish fighter battling to take the city back from the so-called Islamic State; the other is an IS widow, unrepentant about the group's crimes against Yezidis and others. One year on from the failed coup attempt in Turkey, Mark Lowen finds a nation ever more aggressive towards internal dissent, yet ever more defensive about its differences from traditional allies. Carrie Gracie recently covered more than 12,000km along the route of what's been called 'the new silk road' - a constellation of new infrastructure and transport over dozens of different countries, that's being built and funded by China. Along the way, she had to deal with scorching sands, dodgy lodgings, bulky baggage - and sometimes deep-fried camel hump for dinner. And Richard Hamilton dances his head off with the Master Musicians of Joujouka - a traditional Moroccan ensemble whose pulsating rhythms and ancient pipes were once used to try and treat mental illness. Image: Sonxuin, a young Kurdish female fighter, on duty with her YPJ comrades as they advance on the city of Raqqa in Syria. (c) BBC June 2017