War of annihilation
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“WAR OF ANNIHILATION” DEVASTATING TOLL ON CIVILIANS, RAQQA – SYRIA
Amnesty International 41
Fayad Mohammed and his daughters Wafa’, Fadda and Tamam; Ammar al-Faris; Reem al-Maddad, Yusra Abd-al-Aziz, and baby Razqiya Habib; Jasim Hamal and Salem Hamad. They were among the 16 civilians killed in Coalition air strikes on 12 October 2017 in Raqqa. © Private
“WAR OF ANNIHILATION” DEVASTATING TOLL ON CIVILIANS, RAQQA – SYRIA
Amnesty International 42 THE FINAL STAGES OF BATTLE Harat al-Badu, a built-up area in central Raqqa, next to the stadium, was the scene of the final battle in the city between SDF-Coalition forces and IS. As in other parts of Raqqa, IS restricted people’s movements out of Harat al-Badu from the beginning of the conflict. As the SDF took control of more and more of the city, IS fighters retreated to the area around the stadium, including the Harat al-Badu neighbourhood. IS fighters also redoubled efforts to force civilians from other areas into Harat al-Badu in order to use them as human shields. As a result, the number of civilians in Harat al-Badu during the closing stages of the battle was high and fleeing had become even more difficult. Ammar Amero, a taxi driver who remained in his home throughout the siege, told Amnesty International, “every house was full of people – in many houses both IS and civilians.” 70
THE INITIAL TRUCE In early October IS militants informed civilians in Harat al-Badu that there would be a truce between them and the SDF surrounding the neighbourhood, under which both IS fighters and civilians would be allowed to leave the area. Local IS fighters also informed people, however, that, although the SDF were prepared to allow Syrian IS fighters to leave, they did not want to extend the privilege to foreign fighters. According to those in the area at the time, there were many Tunisian and Saudi fighters within IS ranks in Harat al-Badu, along with Syrian IS members from Homs and Aleppo. The truce came into effect on 9 or 10 October 2017. It was supposed to hold for three days before both IS and the trapped civilians would be allowed to leave, but it did not last. Residents told Amnesty International that at around 4pm on 11 October some IS fighters fired mortars and rifles in the direction of the SDF forces in what locals believe was a deliberate attempt by foreign die-hard fighters to break the truce. Taxi driver Ammar, for example, put this down to disunity between local IS members and foreign fighters, who were suspicious about the terms of the truce. After the truce was broken, other IS members went looking for those responsible. The SDF and the Coalition responded almost immediately with artillery and air strikes. Residents told Amnesty International that it was a ferocious assault, which lasted throughout the evening and night. THE AIR STRIKES “I felt the roof of the house collapse on me... I called my wife, my mother, my daughter, but nobody answered… I realised that everybody was dead.”
Ali Habib, a taxi driver and father of six Abu Saif’s house and that of Hussein Hamad Fares, across the small street, were among the last houses struck in the early hours of 12 October 2018. Among those sheltering in Hussein Hamad Fares’ house were Ali Habib and his family. His wife, his baby daughter and his mother were killed, along with Hussein Hamad Fares, his son Ammar and five other neighbours who were sheltering there. Ali Habib and his five-year-old son survived, both seriously injured. In addition to his own family, Ali Habib, a taxi driver and father of six, was also looking after his half-brother and four half-sisters and his bedridden step-mother. He could not afford to pay smugglers to take his family out of Raqqa. As many other residents, the family left their home and tried to find safety where they could. He told Amnesty International: When the war started in Raqqa we first went to stay near the river, on the north side of the river, by the old bridge. We stayed there for 21 days in a tent. But just after Eid, Daesh forced us to move from there back into the city. 71
The family then moved to Harat al-Kuwait but had to move again after two days because the area came
70 Interview with Ammar Amero, Raqqa, 11 February 2018. 71 Interview with Ali Habib, near Raqqa, 14 February 2018.
“WAR OF ANNIHILATION” DEVASTATING TOLL ON CIVILIANS, RAQQA – SYRIA
Amnesty International 43 under mortars and artillery fire and air strikes. The two-storey house they were sheltering in took a direct hit and the family fled to Intifada Street, but there too they soon came under fire. After five days they fled to Harat al-Badu, first sheltering in an empty apartment they found in a four-storey building. After the ceasefire was first announced, around 10 October, the family tried once again to flee but only Ali Habib’s brother managed, with Ali Habib’s three oldest daughters and his oldest son. Ali Habib and the rest of the family were forced back by IS sniper fire, and they returned to the same apartment they had just left. As the ceasefire collapsed on the evening of 11 October, the shelling and air strikes intensified. Ali Habib told Amnesty International: We first sheltered in an empty apartment in a four-storey building. At 3am the building opposite us was hit by an air strike and collapsed. Shrapnel was flying everywhere and my little boy and I were both injured by shrapnel. We were terrified. At 4am we tried to leave. Only my father’s wife stayed because she could not move and one of her daughters stayed with her. My small car was destroyed in that bombing so I could not move my father’s wife. My half-siblings decided to take shelter in a nearby building and me and my wife and our children and my mother went to Abu Saif (Fayad). We asked for shelter and Ammar told me that we could stay in his father’s house (opposite Abu Saif’s house). I knocked there and his father, Hussein, welcomed us. Shortly after we arrived there the bombing happened. I was sitting on a chair holding my little boy (five years old) and the women were sitting on the floor, huddled together. I felt the roof of the house collapse on me. I could not move and my little boy was not next to me anymore. I called Haj Hussein, then I called my wife, my mother, my daughter, but nobody answered. One of the neighbours who was sheltering in the house was lying next to me. He was barely alive and died almost immediately. I felt the roof of the house collapse on me... I called my wife, my mother, my daughter, but nobody answered… I realised that everybody was dead. I realised that everybody was dead. Then my boy, Mohammed, called out and that gave me the strength to free myself from the rubble and go to him. He had been thrown some 10m away by the explosion. We were both injured. I fainted and when I regained consciousness I heard voices on the other side of the rubble which was all around me and my boy and I called for help and eventually people removed some of the rubble and pulled us out. Later that day, at about 4pm, we heard that there would be another truce. 72
his family from the rubble, told Amnesty International: When they [IS] broke the truce I was in a cellar with my family, relatives and neighbours around the corner and down the street from Abu Saif’s house. I came out at 8.30-9am to see who had been killed and who needed help. In the street outside my house I met an Egyptian IS member who told me that the truce had been re-established and after three days we could all leave. A little further down the road I came across a civilian who told me that Abu Saif’s house had been flattened to the ground. I was walking with a stick as I was disabled – it was a psychological condition I suffered after the death of my son. I hobbled around the corner and found the house flattened. There was a Syrian IS fighter in the street. He told me that he had come up out of a basement in order to pray at around 4.30am and that the house had not been hit then. It must have been the last house they hit before the bombardments stopped at 5am. I found the bottom half of Abu Saif in the rubble. Um Abdalla was also visible in the rubble but her legs were trapped under it. She was dead. 73
Those that were killed in Abu Saif’s house are as follows: 1.
Fayad Mohammed Saif (Abu Saif), over 80 2.
Um Abdalla, 42 or 43 (Abu Saif’s sister) 3.
Wafa’ Mohammed bint Fayad, late 40s (Abu Saif’s daughter) 4.
Fadda Mohammed bint Fayad, 40 (Abu Saif’s daughter) 5.
Tamam Mohammed bint Fayad 20 (Abu Saif’s youngest daughter) Those killed in the air strike that destroyed the house across the street from Abu Saif’s house: 1.
2.
Ammar Hamad Faris, 32 (Ammar’s wife and child survived as they were out of Raqqa) 72 Interview with Ali Habib, near Raqqa, 14 February 2017. 73 Interview with Ammar Amero, Raqqa, 11 February 2017. Yüklə 5,63 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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