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| UN: 'Staggering' civilian deaths in Raqqa offensive | |
| 2017-06-15 | |
...boodling on the grand scale... war crimes Sherlocks have said. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of Kurdish and Arab militias supported by a US-led coalition, began attacking Raqqa a week ago to take it from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS, also known as ISIS). Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry, told the Human Rights Council on Wednesday that the increased attacks have resulted "not only in staggering loss of civilian life", but have also "led to 160,000 civilians fleeing their homes". Pinheiro did not provide a figure for civilian casualties in Raqqa, where rival forces are racing to capture ground from ISIS. The SDF, supported by heavy coalition air strikes, have taken territory to the west, east and north of the city. The Syrian army is also advancing on the desert area west of the city. Residents, as well as the campaign group Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, also say air strikes have killed significant numbers of civilians. Pinheiro said that if the international coalition's offensive was successful, it could liberate Raqqa's civilian population, including Yazidi women and girls, "whom the group has kept sexually enslaved for almost three years as part of an ongoing and unaddressed genocide". But it must not be at the expense of civilians who unwillingly find themselves in areas where ISIS is present, he cautioned. | |
| Posted by:Fred |