05 June 2018•Update: 05 June 2018
By Sadik Kedir
ANKARA
The U.S., France, and Britain should admit to the hundreds of civilians they killed in their raid last year in Raqqah, Syria, calling it a “war of annihilation,” Amnesty International argued on Tuesday.
“From amid the rubble of Raqqah, civilians are asking why U.S.-led coalition forces destroyed the city, killing hundreds of civilians in the process of ‘liberating’ them,” said a new report by the human rights group.
“Researchers visited 42 coalition airstrike sites across the ruined city and interviewed 112 civilian residents who had survived the carnage and lost loved ones,” said the report, including excerpts from the interviews.
“Despite repeated attempts to flee, the Hashish family lost 18 members, mostly women, and children, over a two-week period in August,” it said.
The report also said the U.S.-led coalition attacked populated civilian areas using imprecise explosive weapons.
Amnesty urged coalition members to investigate and “publicly acknowledge the scale and gravity of the loss of civilian lives and destruction of civilian property in Raqqah.”
According to the report, U.S. forces admitted to firing 30,000 artillery rounds during the offense in Raqqah, on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River. It added that tens of thousands of air raids were also carried out during the devastating battle.
“U.S. forces were responsible for more than 90% of the air strikes,” it stressed.
The U.S.-led coalition carried out the offensive from June 6 to Oct. 17, 2017, to oust the terrorist group Daesh from its so-called capital.
