ISIL fighters parade through Raqqa, Syria, in a caravan of Toyota pickup trucks, 2014
ISIL fighters parade through Raqqa, Syria, in a caravan of Toyota pickup trucks. Syria, 2014. Image courtesy of Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0.

ISIS may be losing its physical caliphate, but its conquest of Iraq and Syria—and the scars it has left behind—live on. From those forced to fight for ISIS to those enslaved by it, their lives are a daily struggle. They hate themselves, and they are often hated by the communities they were stolen from, victims twice-over. Yet the U.S. moves on, because the threat is no longer apparently aimed at Americans. But in the hearts of those rejected is the same pain and rejection that gave rise to ISIS the first time and could revive the deadly group again.

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