More civilians are fleeing their homes in Raqqa city and its countryside as a result of the continued military operations by the International anti-ISIS Coalition to drive the extremist group out of the province. The operations and intense airstrikes by the coalition forces are killing an increasing number of civilians.
Local activists said that five civilians were killed in airstrikes by aircraft of the international coalition in the town of Mansoura in western rural Raqqa on Thursday.
Activists in the town issued a statement denouncing “the mass killings of civilians,” stressing that “the liberation of the town from ISIS must not involve killing and displacing civilians or the destruction of their property.” They added that these acts represent “a clear violation of international humanitarian law and could be exploited by the extremist group to portray them as an open aggression on their lives and their very existence.”
The statement called on all parties, chiefly the US-led anti-ISIS coalition, to open safe corridors for civilians, provide urgent temporary shelters and medical care for the injured, and spare vital infrastructure and services.
Activists stressed that forces of the international coalition and their partners fighting on the ground bear responsibility for the targeting of unarmed civilians, calling for an investigation into the crimes committed against them. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
