Verified answer

It means "Since he was caught in the Red Zone by the (outbreak of the) war, they put him in jail." The war "surprised" him in that he wasn't expecting to get in trouble then or there.

This sentence is quite confusing because it seems to be that there are some words missing, which causes it to be lose its precise meaning. For instance "I was caught stealing money" can be translated as "Me sorprendieron robando dinero" so Sorprender=Atrapar= To Catch. Therefore your sentence could be "How did you get caught up in the Red Zone (during the Civil War), were you imprisoned?" or "How surprised were you about the war in the Red Zone, did they put you in prison?

Corrected: Given that (or since) he was caught up in the red zone of the war they put him in prison.

sorprender= to surprise, to impress

but in this written sorprender means "what was interesting for you about the war",

i don't try to confuse you but sorprender means to impress, and to impress in spanish is impresionar.

so your written could be written like that too. "qué tanto le impresiono la guerra en la zona roja Cuando le/o metieron en la carcel"

how impressed are you about the red zone of war when they put you in jail?

i'm really sorry if i made some mistake, i am learning english and i make always a lot of mistakes, but i think i helped you little bit

i'm mexican,

As it surprised the war to him