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As screened on the Military Channel, the documentary series Combat Zone pulls viewers "inside" of noted armed conflicts, military missions and wartime turning points from the late 20th and 21st century. Each episode hones in on one such event, with everything shot through the soldiers' eyes. In each case, dramatic reenactments (featuring professional actors) are used to transport audiences back to the place and time in question. The Iraqi village in the title of the episode "Battle of Tal Afar (Iraq, 2005)" spent hundreds upon hundreds of years functioning as a nexus between eastern and western trading routes, until Al-Qaeda arrived, viscerally gutting the community and wresting control over its administration. This episode recreates the 2005 battle in which the U.S.A.F. attempted to move in, drive out the reigning terrorists and reestablish an autonomous government in the town.