Inside the sleepy resort town of Latakia in Syria, it's very hard to believe that just a few hundred kilometres away the war is raging.
The muezzins are still calling for prayer and people go around their daily shopping.
Local politicians' posters hang around the city, urging Syrians to vote for them in the upcoming parliamentary elections on 13 April.
Latakia, with its beautiful sandy beaches and warm waves of the Mediterranean, used to be the favourite summer resort for the Syrian political elite.
Now it is Bashar al Assad's stronghold, where taxi drivers call him "father".
The main reminders of the conflict here are road checkpoints manned by local security forces - Mukhabarat.
On one of these checkpoints, Sky News met 18-year-old Hamody al Salem and 26-year-old Maher Lai.
They agreed to show us the abandoned school where Hafez al Assad - Bashar al Assad's father - used to study.
The school is situated in the centre of the city. There is a memorial plate inside the school and a monument of Hafez al Assad nearby to commemorate the honourable student.
During the improvised tour of the school, the younger guard, Hamody, told us his story.
He grew up in Raqqa and is the only son in his family.
He was washing the dishes at a cafe there, until he was captured by Islamic State - also known as Daesh - in 2014.
Hamody was kept prisoner for one-and-a-half years, along with four other Syrians.
"I don't know why Daesh captured me," he said.
"They beat me up every day. It was horrible to be their prisoner."
According to Hamody, one night the four prisoners stabbed their guard and escaped through a window.
Two of them were shot in the pursuit, but Hamody managed to run away and make it to Latakia.
According to an unwritten rule, Hamody could have avoided serving in the army as he is the only son in his family.
However, after his imprisonment, he decided to fight against IS and volunteered for Mukhabarat.
"We are not paid much, only 50 dollars per month. It is hardly enough for anything," said another secret services employee, who asked that he not be named.
"However, fighting Daesh gives us stronger motivation than money can ever give."
. . . Courtesy ::: Sky News
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