Surviving the civil war was trial enough for Shokrana Khalil Alawi and her seven-year-old son, but when a newly promoted Islamic State emir demanded she become his wife, she knew they had to flee.
(Telegraph) For Shokrana Khalil Alawi, saying "no" to a suitor's marriage proposal was the single most dangerous thing she had done throughout the Syrian civil war.
For four years, following the death of her husband, she had survived alone with her seven-year-old son, Mustafa, in war-riven Deir Ezzor - but faced with the demand from a leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), she knew she had no choice but to escape.
"He asked for my hand in marriage," said Ms Alawi, 37. "But when I refused he issued the ultimatum: marry me or become my slave."
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