British aid worker woken by ‘very scary’ explosions

A British aid worker has described hearing “deafening explosions” and said the building she was in rattled when allied air strikes struck their Syrian targets.

Over 100 missiles were fired in overnight raids Friday night on three facilities connected with the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons programme.

Madiha Raza, who works for the UK-based charity Muslim Aid, was on her third trip to the country when missiles struck a target just five miles from her hotel in Damascus.

The 29-year-old from London said: “I woke up because of deafening explosions, which seemed as if they were right outside.

“I was just so perplexed because I did not know what was going on. I could not believe how loud it was and the whole building rattled. It continued for a good five minutes. As soon as I heard the first or second explosion I jumped out of bed and looked out of the window to see if I could see where it was or how far.

“I could see a bit of smoke but I couldn’t really see anything else as it was 4am.”

Describing the explosions as coming “every few seconds” before they stopped, Ms Raza, who has worked in dangerous locations before including Mosul in Iraq, admitted it was an “unnerving” experience.

“I was here in February during the bombardment of eastern Ghouta, which is also just a few kilometres away from where I was staying. But this one was actually a very scary situation because of just how loud and close it seemed.”

Arriving back into Syria on Thursday, Ms Raza knew there was a possibility of air strikes, but that she thought they were unlikely.

Describing how life was normal in Damascus ahead of the air strikes, she said that even after the bombing “life just goes on, it was like nothing had happened”.

Madiha Raza: perplexed