Najm al-Deen al-Najm, Baladi News
The international coalition led by the US and accompanied by SDF militias on ground is following a destructive method in its battle to control the city of al-Raqqah as their aerial and artillery bombardment precede any attempt to control ISIS-held regions which led to killing hundreds of civilians during the past few months, not to mention the massive destruction in the infrastructure, property and residential buildings.
After SDF militia gained control over the countryside of al-Raqqah, it has started the battle of controlling the city center which is teeming with civilians, adopting the same method of intensive aerial and artillery bombardment which led to the martyrdom of more than 100 civilians over the past few days.
The US Secretary of Defense "James Matisse" said in an interview with CBS channel last Sunday that "casualties among civilians is something inevitable" in what he called the war against "terrorism" in Syria and Iraq and this statement came to pave the way for such crimes against civilians of al-Raqqah.
The political researcher "Nawwaf al-Rakkad" said in an interview with Baladi News that: "the international coalition seems to like the scenario of Grozny that was applied on Homs, Deir al-Zor, and Aleppo along with other Syrian towns and cities".
Regarding the choices of ISIS in this stage of the battle, al-Rakkad said that: "ISIS has no more choices or solutions but to run towards the Syrian and Iraqi desert and defeating it in al-Raqqah may not be quick unlike the rumors talking about agreements of withdrawal between the two parties". He went on saying: "If ISIS was quickly defeated in al-Raqqah, its largest fortress in Syria, then this will be a fatal strike that will lead it to lose its followers and supporters".
The activist "Ayham al-Ahmad" believes that the brutal bombardment on al-Raqqah that kills civilians and destroys infrastructure is not arbitrary but rather a part of a pre-set scenario. al-Ahmad explained that the plan that was put by the Obama administration to control al-Raqqah and expel ISIS is now followed by president Trump administration but with ignoring the rules of bombardment that prevent targeting civilians.
Al-Ahmad pointed out that this destructive method is part of a future American policy to reconstruct al-Raqqah, as it has a significant importance due to its strategical location in the Syrian north and that's why the US wants to monopolize the city in order to reconstruct it in the future as reconstruction means gaining full power and control over it.