ALEPPO – Russian fighter jets conducted fierce airstrikes in Syria’s northeastern city of Raqqa, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, activists reported on Saturday.Raqqa is deemed a de facto capital for the self-declared Caliphate of the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS).
“The Russian airstrikes hit residential buildings in central Raqqa, causing dozens of civilian casualties and mass destruction to private property,” media activist Luay Ayyad told ARA News in Raqqa.
“Dead bodies of 15 civilians were pulled from the rubble,” the source reported. “23 others were wounded in the airstrikes, some of them suffer serious injuries.”
In the meantime, a medical source in the Muwasat hospital in Raqqa said that 20 wounded people arrived to the hospital for treatment, “some of them lost their legs and others lost arms in the strikes”.
“The hospital suffers a shortage in equipment and medical staff. More victims are expected to be still stranded under the ruins of the destroyed buildings,” the source told ARA News.
ISIS militants prevent the movement of civilians to outside Raqqa, “which makes transferring the wounded to medical centers outside the province impossible,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.