It began shortly after midnight. Residents of the Syrian town of Atmeh, just across the border from Turkey, were woken by the deafening buzz of helicopters close above them. The aircraft were carrying a team of US commandos who disembarked and surrounded a residential building. Through loudspeakers, the soldiers called in Arabic for the people inside to surrender.
Terrified and alone with her mother and sister, 22-year-old local resident Sima (not her real name) said they moved away from the windows as a precaution.
