Islamic State uses 300,000 as human shields

U.S.-backed forces prepare for battle in Raqqa, Syria

BEIRUT — Residents of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa live in terror, trapped as a massive human shield in the Islamic State’s de facto capital ahead of the final battle with U.S.-backed opposition forces for the militant group’s last major urban stronghold.

A belt of land mines and militant checkpoints circle the city. Inside, all the men have been ordered to wear the jihadis’ garb of baggy pants and long shirts — making it difficult to distinguish Islamic State militants from civilians.

Hundreds if not thousands of Syrians who fled from other parts of the country now live in tents in Raqqa’s streets, vulnerable to both warplanes and ground fighting. Enormous tarps have been stretched for blocks in the city centre to hide the militants’ movements from spy planes and satellites.

The estimated 300,000 people trapped inside live in terrifying uncertainty over how to find safety. Air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition shake the city almost daily, mainly hitting northern neighbourhoods, amid reports of civilians killed by strikes in the nearby countryside.

Leaflets dropped by coalition warplanes give confusing directions — one suggests areas closer to the Euphrates River are safer, but then another warns that boats crossing the river will be struck.

Mass panic erupted on Sunday, when IS announced on mosque loudspeakers that U.S. strikes had hit a dam to the west of Raqqa. Residents were urged to flee imminent flooding, and thousands did.

The militants allowed them into IS-controlled countryside nearby, as long as they left their possessions behind, according to an activist who is in touch with people inside the city. Hours later, the militants announced it was a false alarm and urged everyone to return.

Raqqa, a provincial capital on the northern bank of the Euphrates, is the next major battle against the Islamic State group as Iraqi forces push to complete the recapture of northern Iraqi city of Mosul after nearly six months of fighting. For the Raqqa campaign, a multiethnic force of Syrian fighters, dominated by Kurds and supported by U.S. special forces, artillery and air power, have been manoeuvring to isolate the city.

Concerns over civilian casualties have become a significant issue in the fight for Mosul.

The Islamic State has sent most of its European fighters out of Raqqa farther east to the region of Deir el-Zour, deeper into its shrinking territory, according to Tim Ramadan, an activist with the group Sound and Picture, who remains in Raqqa, and Eyas Dass, editor of Al Raqqa Post, an opposition website that documents atrocities by IS and the Syrian government.

That is probably a sign it wants to protect the foreigners, either for a propaganda campaign or to send them to carry out attacks in their home countries, they said.