Najm al-Deen al-Najm, Baladi News, al-Raqqa
After a week on the battle of breaking into the city of al-Raqqa which was launched by "SDF" militias under an aerial and logistic support by the US-led international coalition against ISIS, the situation of the residents of al-Raqqa seems to be catastrophic.
The fierce battles among the conflicting parties resulted in massive destruction in the streets, residential buildings and shops. SDF militias never hesitate to bombard the regions they attempt to break into, while ISIS uses artillery bombardment, booby-trapped cars and mines to prevent them from advancing, not to mention the intensive raids by the coalition warplanes on the city, which led to huge fires due to the usage of the incendiary white phosphorus.
The activist, Ayham al-Ahmad, said to Baladi News: "About 200,000 civilians in al-Raqqa, including 40,000 children, suffer from a daily bombardment by the coalition, SDF, and ISIS".
"ISIS prevents civilians from leaving the city and uses them as human shields, but SDF and the coalition don't care about this as they target the regions they enter with artillery bombardment and this leads to frightening number of casualties and deaths among civilians", he added.
al-Ahmad pointed out that the civilians are burying their children, relatives, and neighbors in the nearest yard they find, and the parks of the cities have turned into cemeteries!
al-Ahmad explained: "There is a severe shortage in foodstuffs and infants' milk and none of the bakeries in the city is working due to the severe bombardment and the skyrocketing prices of fuel, not to mention the total blackout of electricity and scarcity of water".
Paulo Pinheiro, Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry for Human Rights Council , said on Wednesday: "We particularly draw attention that the intensification of air strikes that paved the way for the progress of SDF militias in al-Raqqa has only resulted in frightening losses among civilians. It also forced 160,000 civilians to leave their homes and be displaced ", according to "Deutsche Welle" website.
Stephen Goose, director of Human Rights Watch's Arms Division, said: " The US-led forces must take all possible precautions to minimize harm to civilians when using white phosphorus in Iraq and Syria".