The UN Secretary General's Deputy Spokesperson has described as “alarming” the situation in the Syrian city of Raqqa, where civilians are becoming victims of the ongoing US-led military operation against ISIS. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General joins RT to discuss the situation in Raqqa.
UN 'deeply concerned' over safety of 400,000 civilians
fleeing US-led coalition airstrikes in Raqqa
Published time: 24 Apr, 2017 20:02Edited time: 24 Apr,
2017 20:51
Camp in Ain Issa, north of Raqqa, Syria April 3, 2017.
© Rodi Said / Reuters
The safety of over 400,000 people in Raqqa, Syria,
where US-backed Syrian opposition forces are bombing ISIS, is of "deep
concern" to the UN. The offensive has resulted in "an escalating
number of civilian deaths” as well as damage to vital civilian infrastructure,
the organization added.
"In past weeks, civilians have been exposed to
daily fighting and airstrikes which resulted in an escalating number of
civilian deaths and injuries as well as damage to civilian infrastructure,
including hospitals, schools, markets and water infrastructure," a
Monday statement from a spokesman for UN Secretary General read.
"There are worries" about how the
US-backed operation will affect civilians, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the
UN Secretary-General told RT.
"We have set up camps in the area that are
receiving people and we are trying to make sure that all the people displaced
by the fighting can be placed in camps for their safety. But we want to make
sure that whatever operations are conducted, they will bear in mind that there
is a huge number of civilians who are trying to flee to safety," the
UN official said.
"We need to make sure that all parties abide
by the basic humanitarian norms, so civilians can be spared the consequences
both of the actions by Daesh [IS] and by the air strikes," he added.
On Sunday, at least eight people, including five
children were reportedly killed in airstrikes on Atabaqa city, the UN said,
adding that two schools were destroyed in the attack.
Last week, "dozens of people were reportedly
killed and injured in airstrikes on an IDP [Internally Displaced People] camp
near Albardah village, 20 kilometers west of Raqqa," the statement
added.
In other makeshift camps in Raqqa province, which host
thousands of people fleeing IS violence, "four out of five people are
staying in the open air without appropriate shelter." Several children
reportedly died in the camps due to lack of medical care, the organization
said.
Reaching those camps is described as an "ordeal"
by locals who say they are fleeing the shelling by the US-led coalition in
Syria.
"All the people who come have been through the
same ordeal. With me and my family, I paid about 80,000. It cost us so much.
There was so much suffering and there were disabled people and sick people. It
was an indescribable ordeal," a civilian at the UN-funded Karamah camp
in the outskirts of the embattled city of Raqqa told Ruptly.
No humanitarian support for civilians from US –
SDF
On Sunday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces
(SDF) reported major advances in their offensive to liberate Raqqa from the
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group. "All strategic
ways" through which IS have been supplying their Syrian stronghold of
Raqqa have now been cut, the SDF press service said, as quoted by Kurdish news
agencies.
But while the US-led coalition participates
militarily, there is no humanitarian support for the civilians fleeing from
terrorists, the multi-ethnic but predominantly Kurdish alliance of forces say.
With support from Washington, including air strikes,
the SDF launched the offensive known as Operation Euphrates Rage six months
ago. At the moment, the mission to retake Raqqa from Islamic terrorists is in
its fourth stage.
While the military operation is in full force, SDF
fighters have been transferring civilians through secured corridors from IS
occupied areas to safe zones under their control, the Kurdish news agency Hawar
(ANHA) reported.
Some 70,000 refugees have reached safer areas in
northern Syria, following the battles for Raqqa and Tabqa, the agency reported,
saying that the displaced civilians are settled in two camps.
The camps in the town of Kerama and Ayn Issa host some
30,000 people each according to ANHA. But as the battle in the area intensifies,
the number of civilians fleeing their homes increases sharply, with more than
10,000 people having been displaced in just three days late last week.
The Syrian Democratic Council (MSD) has said it tried
to warn the international community, "specifically"
Washington, of the consequences of the battle for Raqqa, having asked for
assistance amid a rapidly worsening humanitarian situation.
"As the Raqqa operation was nearing, we had
earlier discussed this issue with many sides, specifically with the US in order
to build camps and host [civilians]. We expected tens of thousands of civilians
who would be escaping Raqqa. Though there were discussions and planning, to the
moment there have been no practical actions," MSD co-chair Ilham Ehmed
charged, as quoted by ANHA.
None of the over a hundred humanitarian and civil
organizations operating within the region secured by SDF have contributed to
the Raqqa operation either, Ehmed added.
"Drinking water is hard to find, the health
situation in these camps is critical. There are not enough tents or blankets,"
the MSD representative added, saying that "it is critical to support
these people, who are liberated from terrorism with great joy."
Otherwise, some of the people who have been living
under IS for months, might even "go back to the other side, to seek
hostilities" and "may join terrorist groups."
Washington's assistance to Syrian anti-government
forces, who are fighting Islamic terrorists in the country, has been a constant
source of controversy especially during the Raqqa offensive. Damascus sees any
US presence in the country illegitimate, unless coordinated with the
government.
Earlier this week, Raqqa's civil council also released
a statement, calling on humanitarian organizations and the UN to help people
fleeing violence in Raqqa.
"Despite our people and the world's happiness
for the overwhelming victories Syrian Democratic Forces achieved, and the
progress made in liberating towns and villages in Raqqa governorate from the
clutches of IS gangs, they are still turning a blind eye to the repercussions
of these operations where a big number of these people are forced to displace
to safe regions escaping the IS terror," the statement said.
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