Syria, Amnestey's report, civilians trapped in Raqqa and used as human shields
Thousands of civilians are trapped in Raqqa in northern Syria, subjected to crossfire from all parties involved in the final stage of the battle for control of the city. Amnesty International denounced this at the end of an investigation carried out in the field. The human rights organization urged warring parties to prioritize civilians, protecting them from hostilities and creating
safe corridors for them to leave the area. Since June - reads the report released today by Amnesty International - when the offensive to retake the 'capital' and main stronghold of the self-named Islamic State group began, hundreds of civilians have been injured or killed. Survivors and witnesses told Amnesty International of the presence of booby traps and snipers targeting anyone trying to escape, as well as constant artillery and bombing by the US-led coalition fighting alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces. In turn, Russian-backed government forces in Damascus bombed civilians in villages and fields south of the Euphrates River, including internationally banned cluster bombs. As the battle to wrest Raqqa from the Islamic State intensifies, thousands of civilians are trapped in a maze of death in which they are under fire from all sides in the conflict. Knowing that the Islamic State uses civilians as human shields, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the US-led coalition must redouble their efforts to protect the civilian population, especially avoiding disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks and creating safe corridors of exit from the city, 'he said. Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's Senior Advisor for Crisis Response, who led the field investigation. 'The situation is set to worsen as the fighting approaches the city center. Much more needs to be done to protect the lives of civilians trapped in the conflict and to facilitate their exit from conflict zones, 'added Rovera. On 6 June, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the US-led coalition began the final phase of operations to take Raqqa back from the hands of the Islamic State. In mid-July, Russian-backed Syrian forces began bombing villages and camps for displaced people south of the city. Hundreds of civilians were killed or wounded in the attacks carried out by each side in the conflict. It is unclear how many civilians are still trapped in Raqqa. According to the United Nations, that would be 10.000 to 50.000, many - if not the majority - used as human shields in the old city and other parts of Raqqa controlled by the Islamic State.
Civilians still trapped in Raqqa are in great danger due to intense artillery activity and more limited bombing by US-led coalition forces, which act on the basis of coordinates provided by fighters of the
Syrian democratic forces present on the ground. Numerous civilians who have recently fled from Raqqa have reported that, in recent months, these incessant and often inaccurate attacks have caused a large number of victims among the population
civil. Daraiya, west of central Raqqa, is one of the areas heavily bombed by US-led coalition forces, particularly from June 8-10. One of the inhabitants said: 'It was hell, the area was hit by many hits. People did not know where to escape, some ran from one point to another and were bombed there. The Syrian Democratic Forces and the coalition did not know that the area was full of civilians. We were stuck there because Daesh did not make us leave '. Another resident reported that on June 10 a neighborhood of single-story houses was hit by more than a dozen artillery shells that killed at least 12 people, including a 75-year-old man and a one-year-old boy and middle: 'The houses were coming down one after the other. It was indescribable, it felt like the end of the world… the noise, the screams… I'll never forget that carnage. Survivors met by Amnesty International denounced that US-led coalition forces have targeted boats along the river
Euphrates, the only civilian escape route. On July 2, the commander of the coalition forces, US General Stephen J. Townsend, told the New York Times: 'We shoot every boat we spot.' In March, the coalition forces had launched leaflets which said: 'Daesh is using boats and ferries to transport weapons and fighters: do not use them, they are about to be attacked'. 'Crossing the Euphrates was one of the main possibilities for civilians to escape from Raqqa. Hitting 'every boat' on the basis of the erroneous presumption that each of them had weapons or fighters from the Islamic State on board must be considered an indiscriminate attack and therefore prohibited by the laws of war, Rovera noted. The Islamic State is employing numerous tactics to prevent civilians from escaping Raqqa, using them as human shields, planting anti-personnel mines and booby traps along exits, setting up checkpoints around the city, and shooting anyone trying to escape. . With the front line constantly changing, civilians are in grave danger. Mahmouda, who managed to escape from the Daraiya neighborhood, told Amnesty International: 'It was a terrible situation. Daesh did not make us leave. They had no food or electricity. Many were spying for the religious police. They surrounded us with snipers. If they hit you, you died in your home because there wasn't even a doctor. ' Reem, also from Daraiya, explained how the Islamic State began forcing people to move within the walls of the old city, waiting for the final battle: 'They knocked on the door of the house and advised that there were 30 minutes to move into the old City. Those who refused were accused of being an agent of the PKK - the Kurdistan Workers 'Party - and threatened with arrest'. 'By hiding in the inhabited areas of Raqqa and using civilians as human shields, the fighters of the Islamic State are increasingly violating, in a systematic and sensational way, the laws of war', commented Rovera. While the civilian population of Raqqa is suffering the worst consequences of the fighting, in the areas controlled by the Islamic State south of the Euphrates there is another violent assault on civilians, carried out by the Syrian government forces backed by Russia. In the second half of July, their indiscriminate attacks killed at least 18 civilians and injured a much higher number. From the details provided by the survivors, Amnesty International believes Syrian government forces intentionally dropped bombs on
cluster and other unguided bombs over areas along the Euphrates irrigation canals where those displaced by the conflict had found improvised shelters. Numerous witnesses reported four cluster bombs dropped by Russian forces on 23 July against the Sabkha camp for displaced persons, causing at least 18 deaths (including a one and a half year old) and 30 injuries. 'We knew they were cluster bombs because there wasn't a single big explosion in one place but many small explosions over a very large area. The bombs set our tents on fire, so we lost everything, 'said Zahra al-Mula, who lost four relatives in the attack on 23 July. The next day, more cluster bombs fell on Shurayda field, two kilometers east of
Sabkha. Amnesty International met with survivors at a local hospital, including Usama, 14, who was seriously injured in the abdomen and limbs and who lost seven family members in the attack. Even the inhabitants of the cities south of Raqqa said they fled in the face of indiscriminate air raids in mid-July. 'There is no doubt that the besieged civilians in Raqqa are
undergoing the horrific brutality of the Islamic State. But the violations committed by the Islamic State do not reduce the legal obligations of other parties to the conflict to protect civilians through the selection of legitimate targets, the renunciation of disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks and the adoption of all possible measures to minimize the damage. to civilians.