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Syria war: UN urges pause in assault on IS bastion Raqqa

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Published: 02:42, 25 August 2017   Update: 15:18, 26 July 2020
Syria war: UN urges pause in assault on IS bastion Raqqa

International Desk: The UN has urged US-led coalition forces to suspend their assault on Raqqa, the capital of so-called Islamic State in Syria, to permit evacuations.

Up to 25,000 civilians are thought to be trapped in the city which, according to the coalition, has been hit by 250 air strikes in the past week alone.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed since the assault started in June, Amnesty International estimates.

IS is accused by the UN and others of using civilians as human shields.

But the number of civilian casualties caused by coalition air strikes appears to have mounted steadily, with dozens killed this week, Syrian opposition sources say.

However, Lt Gen Stephen Townsend, commander of the coalition, said in Baghdad on Tuesday that he had not seen "hard information that says that civilian casualties have increased in Raqqa to some significant degree".

In addition to the air strikes, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance is shelling targets in the city from the ground.

The SDF is believed to have captured more than half the city.

"I cannot think of a worse place on Earth now," Jan Egeland, the UN humanitarian adviser on Syria, said in Geneva."People that come out cannot risk [being killed by] air raids," he said.

"Now is the time to think of possibilities, pauses or otherwise that might facilitate the escape of civilians."

Any humanitarian pause, he said, would not involve IS which was doing its "absolute best to use [civilians] as human shields".

The UN had no contact with the group, he added. "Inside Raqqa city, on both sides, conditions are very bleak and it is very hard to assist in all areas."

Source: Agencies




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