"This is all my life," he says to the fighters. "I worked for 30 years to buy an apartment. Will I be around for another 30 years to buy another one?"
When they get back to the command centre, Abu Ali is still in a foul mood. "You were going to kill my men for this?" he says, gesturing at their bags. "All of you, get out of my area. I have a war to run."
"We just wanted to check if anything was looted," the engineer says quietly.
"Every single house has been looted," shouts Abu Ali. "And the [government] army has never been to this area. It is us who looted them!"
