War of annihilation
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“WAR OF ANNIHILATION” DEVASTATING TOLL ON CIVILIANS, RAQQA – SYRIA
Amnesty International 32 Rasha and Abdulwahab lived in al-Fardous, a neighbourhood to the north-west of the city centre, not far from the stadium and the National Hospital. We lived in a six-floor building but on the first floor so we thought we would be safe. But then two days before Eid [27 th day of Ramadan] at about 9pm or 10pm at least three artillery shells landed in the street outside our building. We ran away and found shelter in a building near the Mara’i bakery. It was a four-storey building and we stayed on the first floor. We spend Eid there but a couple days later the building was hit (unclear if this was artillery or mortar fire) and four of our relatives were injured (two men and two women). So we fled again, but by then we had our injured relatives with us and we needed to find medical care for them and our movement was more restricted – as it was difficult for them to move. This time the family went a few streets towards the north-east, into the centre of Raqqa near Mansour Street. They only stayed for four days, however, because IS had begun rounding up civilians from the streets to the south of the main thoroughfare (23 February Street) and forcing them to move further west, back towards al- Fardous, Harat al-Badu and Nazlet al-Shehade. Rasha told Amnesty International: We went to Sharia al-Mansour and we took shelter in a two-storey house but after four days there Daesh forced us to move towards al-Fardous and Harat al-Badu neighbourhoods. So we went to Nazlet al-Shehade. On 18 July we fled from there because the fighting was getting closer. As we were fleeing nine of our relatives were killed in two bombardments – five of them in one of the houses just as they were about to leave and four others in the car. We had just left along with the rest of the women and children while the men were still at the house preparing to leave when the house and the car were bombed.
The ruins of the destroyed house where 28 members of the Badran family and five neighbours were killed in a Coalition strike on 20 August 2017 in Raqqa. © Amnesty International
“WAR OF ANNIHILATION” DEVASTATING TOLL ON CIVILIANS, RAQQA – SYRIA
Amnesty International 33
Members of the Badran family killed in three separate Coalition air strike on 18 July and 20 August 2017 in Raqqa. © Private
“WAR OF ANNIHILATION” DEVASTATING TOLL ON CIVILIANS, RAQQA – SYRIA
Amnesty International 34 THE AIR STRIKES IN NAZLET AL-SHEHADE FIVE FAMILY MEMBERS (PLUS TWO OTHERS) KILLED IN AN AIR STRIKE ON A HOUSE; FOUR MORE KILLED IN IS had forced the Badran family to move to Nazlet al-Shehade. They got there separately, as they had been staying in different neighbourhoods. In Nazlet al-Shehade they stayed in a small house – the men in one room and the women and children in the next room. The Badrans were afraid of the approaching fighting but they knew that IS would shoot them if they tried to escape from the area. Their only chance to leave was to wait until the fighting reached a level that IS were either too engaged in battle or were fleeing the area themselves. On 18 July 2017, with the fighting intensifying in the area, the family took their chance to flee. The Badrans had access to two cars in which they made several frantic trips, moving the women and children first. During one of these journeys, one of the cars was struck, reportedly by an air strike, killing four male family members inside. At the same time, another air strike destroyed the house where the men had been staying, just as they were waiting for a car to collect them. That strike killed five family members, along with two other men, relatives’ friends whose names the survivors did not know. Amnesty International visited the destroyed house and spoke to members of the extended family, who had witnessed the strike and later helped to recover the bodies from the rubble. Hussein Ali, who lost his uncle in the strike, told Amnesty International: I had been staying with my wife’s family near the house where the Badrans were sheltering, along with my aunt’s husband. I went to them that morning [18 July] to ask if they needed anything and they told me that they were just waiting for the car which had taken the women and children to come back to pick them up. The women and children had left a little earlier. They had some bread and food which the women had left for them to take to the place where they were going. By then it was so difficult to find food – they were not going to leave the food behind. At around 10.30am I wished them a safe journey and left. Shortly afterwards the house was bombed. It was an air strike. We were there to see it and the entire house was destroyed. We could not go to the house immediately because artillery shells were landing in the area. How did I know it was artillery? From the sound; it was louder and made a bigger thump than the mortars. Shortly afterwards, a few streets away we saw the car which had taken the women and children slightly earlier on. It had been struck by an air strike I think, and it was burning. The men inside the car were killed. Initially I only saw two bodies, at the front, and then the other two, at the back. 55
Hussein and some of his relatives returned the following day to look for the bodies and bury them. Another female relative told Amnesty International: “We buried them. There wasn’t one body left intact. We took them out in pieces. We put the piece into plastic bags and we buried them.” 56
Those killed by the air strike on the house at Nazlet al-Shehade: 1.
Mohamed Ahmed Badran Ibn Mohammed, 40 (Shamsa’s husband) 2.
Daham Badran Ibn Ahmed, 50 (Shamsa’s husband’s brother) 3.
Ismael Said, 55 (Sadeeqa’s husband) 4.
Ibrahim Said Ibn Ismael, 15 (Sadeeqa’s son) 5.
Khaled Badran Ibn Ibrahim, 52 6.
An unidentified man 7.
An unidenitfied man Those killed in the strike on the car while escaping from Nazlet Shehade: 1.
2.
Khaled Ismail Said, 17 3.
Mohamed Hussein Shamari (Khood’s son), 24 4.
Hassan Dandoush Ibn Hsein (son of Zarifa Sahu)
55 Interview with Hussein Ali, Raqqa, 11 February 2017. 56 Interview with Hussein Ali’s relative, Raqqa, 11 February 2017. Yüklə 5,63 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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