BEIRUT: “Raqa! Manbij! Al-Bab!” drivers call out at a bus station in the heart of bustling Beirut looking for passengers to make the perilous journey to Islamic State group strongholds in Syria.

“Just before we reach the first Daesh checkpoint, everyone throws out their cigarettes,” said Abu Ali, a bus driver in his 40s, using a derogatory Arabic name for IS.

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