They surprised everyone. At the beginning of 2013, descendants of Al Qaeda in Iraq entered Syria thanks to the chaos and vacuum left by the war against Bashar El Assad.

Then, their conquest of part of Iraq just before the summer was a dazzling victory: in less than 48 hours, a few thousand Jihadists took the Sunni regions of the northwest and approached Baghdad. In just over a year, these men, from all over the world, conquered a territory the size of the United Kingdom. They believe they are at the head of a Caliphate and, in a temporal paradox, also claim to be a State, an Islamic State.

We Westerners prefer to refer to them by the Arabic acronym “Daesh”, insulting in their eyes. Their method of conquest: armed struggle, terror but also ruse. In certain villages, they act as mediators before exercising their absolute power. What exactly do they weigh? What are their resources? Are they invincible? Report from southern Turkey, a few kilometers from territories under Daesh control.

Documentary directed by Hala KODMANI