Abu Muhammad, a former army colonel turned rebel commander, leads a militia through the ruins of a Syrian city where snipers, not soldiers, decide who lives. The camera follows his men into streets where a man lies dead across his wife's body, killed trying to shield her from gunfire, and captures the disorganization Abu Muhammad admits openly: "If they follow 15% of the plan that's great." The government's snipers have become its main weapon precisely because it fears its own lower ranks might defect if ordered into direct combat, leaving a trail of bodies civilian and combatant alike. The film does not soften the rebels either, showing them capture and torture a man accused of informing for the army for two hours before Abu Muhammad promises him a postwar trial. Ammunition is scarce, and Abu Muhammad's forces have entered an uneasy alliance with Islamic fundamentalist fighters he distrusts, warning that "the real battle for Syria begins after victory" if they try to seize the revolution for themselves.