STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Take a moment. Think about yesterday, Thursday. Think of what your day felt like. Think about the look of the autumn sky. Now, here's what the day felt like in northern Syria near the Turkish border.
ZAINA ERHAIM: Today, we've heard many jets passing over. We couldn't recognize whether this is for the coalition or the regime. We didn't know.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Zaina Erhaim got on the phone with us yesterday. She's a journalist inside Syria, and she's been talking with people who live where yesterday's bombs fell.
ERHAIM: Those areas are heavily inhabited by displaced people because those are considered to be the safest. They have big markets and lots of trade going on.
MONTAGNE: We reached Zaina Erhaim as President Obama made his statement on the war. It emphasized deepening U.S. involvement. The President says he wants Congress to change his legal authority to direct the fight.
INSKEEP: The U.S. has been striking the group known as ISIS. It's also hammering other groups like the al-Nusra Front linked to al-Qaida. Inside Syria, word is spreading that more civilians are being killed.
ERHAIM: You're now hitting anywhere. And you don't care about casualties, and you don't care about kids. No one does - not IS, not the regime and now you. So now we're kind of being hit by everyone. The overall feeling is that they're not doing any good.
INSKEEP: That, at least, is one view from inside Syria. It's a country where President Obama has been notably reluctant to involve the United States. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
