War of annihilation
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“WAR OF ANNIHILATION” DEVASTATING TOLL ON CIVILIANS, RAQQA – SYRIA
Amnesty International 22
relatives were under the rubble. After embarking on his journey back to Raqqa, Ammar disappeared and his brothers presumed that he had been detained by the SDF. Mohammed told Amnesty International: We had heard rumours that Jamal was in hospital and that Ammar was in prison. Before coming back to Raqqa we had looked for Jamal in all the hospitals – in Tal Abyad, Qamishli, Kobane and Manbij – and we had also asked the SDF about Ammar, but we had received no information about either. We didn’t know they were both dead. We didn’t know that Ammar was dead until five months after he died, until we found his body on a street near our home, only 50 or 60m away. We identified him by his clothes and by his wedding ring, which was broken on the inside. His body was intact but his head had been smashed. He was wearing the same black jalabiyeh that his wife remembered him wearing when he left Manbij [on his journey back to Raqqa]. His beard was short, as he’d been in Manbij, and not in an area under Daesh control where men were forced to grow long beards. We later learned from the SDF that Ammar had been killed when he had stepped on a mine and that an SDF soldier who was with him lost a leg in the same explosion. We came back to search for Jamal and Ammar. We thought we would find them alive, not dead. All the time, Ammar was lying dead on the next street. We didn’t realise that Jamal was dead until we removed all the rubble from the basement. That’s when we found his body, along with the bodies of Abu Mahmoud and his family. LOOTING
Mohammed and Jamal Aswad had chosen to stay in Raqqa to protect their livelihood. They knew that, were they to leave, their merchandise would likely be stolen by IS fighters. It turned out their fears were well- founded, though the properties were seemingly looted after the SDF forces took control of the area. Mohammed Aswad told Amnesty International: When we came back the Arabic house [the family house across the road from the apartment building] had been looted and all the merchandise that we kept there was gone. We had stored the merchandise in two places – half in the tall building and half in the Arab house – so that if one place was hit we would not lose everything. But everything was gone; tins of cooking oil, barrels of petrol, baby milk powder, plasma TVs, everything. Looting of whatever had not been destroyed by the bombardments and the fighting seems to have been routine throughout Raqqa and beyond, in the areas recaptured from IS. Most of the Raqqa residents Amnesty International interviewed reported that their properties – homes as well as businesses – were looted. They blamed SDF members both for looting and allowing others to loot. 29
MUNITION FRAGMENTS AND COALITION STRIKES REPORTING Amnesty delegates visited the scene of the strike with Aswad family members who brought fragments of two munitions which they claimed to have recovered from the rubble of the destroyed building. One was part of the motor of an AGM-114 Hellfire missile, manufactured by Alliant Techsystems in Virginia, United States. The other was a fin from a US-designed Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a GPS-guided air-delivered bomb.
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Coalition reports of the strikes they launched do not contain the necessary details about the exact date, time, and location of the strikes launched. Such lack of transparency makes it impossible to establish whether/which one of the strikes listed in their reports matches the strike on the Aswad building.
29 See additional information on page 59. 30 Amnesty International’s researchers photographed the fragments, which were identified by military experts based on serial numbers and other data visible on the fragments. See photographs on page 23.
“WAR OF ANNIHILATION” DEVASTATING TOLL ON CIVILIANS, RAQQA – SYRIA
Amnesty International 23
Fragment of the motor of a US-made AGM-114 Hellfire missile recovered among the ruins of the Aswad family building, destroyed in a Coalition strike which killed eight civilians on 28 June 2017. © Amnesty International
Fragment of a fin from a US-designed Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a GPS-guided air-delivered bomb, recovered among the ruins of the Aswad family building, destroyed in a Coalition strike which killed eight civilians on 28 June 2017. © Amnesty International
“WAR OF ANNIHILATION” DEVASTATING TOLL ON CIVILIANS, RAQQA – SYRIA
Amnesty International 24
CJTF-OIR reported carrying out a total of 17 strikes on Raqqa on 28 June 2017. It released the following information about strikes in Raqqa on 28 June 2017: Near Raqqah, 13 strikes engaged nine ISIS tactical units, destroyed 10 fighting positions, two vehicles, a UAS, and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit. 31
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Two of the strikes were carried out by British aircrafts according to the British Ministry of Defence, which issued the following information about its activities in Raqqa on 28 June 2017: Two Tornado flights operated over Raqqa. At the north-western end of the city, at least 1 suicide bomber was known to be waiting inside a Daesh held building, waiting for an opportunity to attack the SDF as they closed in. The building and the terrorists inside were struck with a Paveway IV. A second such weapon demolished a building in the east, from where heavy fire had been directed at the SDF. This successful strike allowed the SDF to resume their advance. 33
information above specific days. The French concede, however, that their aircraft also bombed Raqqa during the week in question: This week, Operation Chammal aircraft flew 31 sorties including 29 armed reconnaissance or ground support (close air support), as well as two intelligence gathering sorties. Nineteen strikes were carried out by French planes in Iraq and Syria. Most of them were carried out during the battles of Mosul and Raqqah. These strikes targeted groups of Daesh fighters. The other strikes were carried out in Syria and targeted areas jihadi fighters used for supply and regrouping. 34
31 Operation Inherent Resolve, “Strikes Releases – June 2017”, 20170629 Strike Release – Final.pdf, available at http://www.inherentresolve.mil/News/Strike-Releases/ 32 Ibid, 20170701 Strike Release – Final.pdf 33 British Ministry of Defence “RAF Air strikes in Iraq and Syria: June 2017”, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/british-forces-air-strikes-in-iraq-monthly-list/june-2017 34 Armée Française – Operations Militaires – Thursday 29 June 2017, available at (Translated from the following original text: “Cette semaine, les aéronefs de l’opération Chammal ont réalisé 31 sorties aériennes dont 29 de reconnaissance armée ou d’appui au sol (CAS) et 2 de recueil de renseignements. 19 frappes ont été réalisées par les avions français en Irak et en Syrie. La majeure partie d’entre elles ont été réalisées dans le cadre des batailles de Mossoul et de Raqqah. Ces frappes visaient des groupes de combattants de Daech. Les autres frappes ont été réalisées en Syrie et ont visé des zones de regroupement et de ravitaillements utilisées par les combattants djihadistes.”) Yüklə 5,63 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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