Raqqa is wiped of ‘off the face of the earth’
Raqqa wiped of ‘off the face of the earth’
MOSCOW: Russia accused the US-led coalition in Syria yesterday of wiping the city of Raqqa “off the face of the earth” with carpet bombing in the same way the United States and Britain had bombed Germany’s Dresden in 1945. The Russian Defense Ministry, which has itself repeatedly been forced to deny accusations from activists and Western politicians of bombing Syrian civilians, said it looked like the West was now rushing to provide financial aid to Raqqa to cover up evidence of its own crimes.
Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said in a statement that around 200,000 people had lived in Raqqa before the conflict in Syria, but that not more than 45,000 people remained. US-backed militias in Syria declared victory over Islamic State in Raqqa, the group’s capital, last week, raising flags over the last jihadist footholds after a four-month battle. “Raqqa has inherited the fate of Dresden in 1945, wiped off the face of the earth by AngloAmerican bombardments,” said Konashenkov.
Most of the German city was destroyed in Allied bombing raids just before the end of World War Two. Though he said Russia welcomed Western promises of financial aid to rebuild Raqqa, Konashenkov complained that numerous Russian requests for the West to give humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians in other parts of the country had been rejected in previous years. “What is behind the rush by Western capitals to provide targeted financial help only to Raqqa?,” said Konashenkov.
“There’s only one explanation - the desire to cover up evidence of the barbaric bombardments by the US air force and the coalition as fast as possible and to bury the thousands of civilians ‘liberated’ from Islamic State in the ruins.” The US-led coalition says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties in its bombing runs against Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq, and investigates any allegations. It has previously denied killing civilians in air strikes on Raqqa, saying its goal is “zero civilian casualties.”
Meanwhile, US-backed militias said they captured Syria’s largest oil field yesterday, pressing their assault against Islamic State in the east of the country. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they took Al-Omar field on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river in the early hours. “Our forces managed to liberate the fields without notable damages,” said Lilwa AlAbdallah, spokeswoman for the offensive in Deir Al-Zor province. The jihadists holed up in buildings in a nearby district, where the SDF was trying to hunt them down, she said.
With US-led jets and special forces, the SDF has been battling in Deir Al-Zor bordering Iraq. The alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias has focused on territory east of the river, which bisects the oil-rich province. The Syrian army, with Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, has been waging its own separate offensive against Islamic State, mostly to the west of the river. The US-led coalition and the Russian military have been holding deconfliction meetings - to prevent clashes between planes and troops - though the two offensives have sometimes come into conflict.
Islamic State has lost vast territory across Syria, and has now come under attack in its last footholds in
US-backed militias seize key oil field
a strip of the Euphrates valley and the desert in Deir Al-Zor. The SDF declared victory over the jihadists in their former headquarters in Raqqa city this week. SDF fighters would now move to the frontlines in Deir Al-Zor, speeding up the battle in eastern Syria. Last month, the Kurdish-led militias captured a major natural gas field upstream of yesterday’s advance. Al-Omar oil field lies some 10 km north of the town of AlMayadin, which government troops and their allies took earlier this month. The town had turned into a major base for Islamic State militants after the US-backed offensive drove them out of Raqqa. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State fighters who had withdrawn from the oil field mounted a counter-attack overnight against government forces. The militants made some gains around Al-Mayadin, the Britain-based monitor said. But a Syrian military source denied this, saying there was no significant attack and fighting raged on at the same pace.