What was life like in Syria`s Raqqah, the fallen capital of Islamic State`s `caliphate`?
(LA Times NBA)

Before it fell under the sway of Islamic State in January 2014, the Syrian crossroads city of Raqqah, on the northern banks of the Euphrates River in historic Mesopotamia, had lived out a richly layered past under a succession of empires. Down through the centuries, it was an Ottoman trading post,...