US-backed forces push farther into Daesh stronghold of Raqqa

BEIRUT: As US-backed forces press further into Raqqa, Daesh’s stronghold in Syria, human rights groups on Tuesday pleaded for the safety of thousands of residents still trapped in the city.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, have made swift progress since entering the city last week, despite a US military assessment that the battle ultimately would be “long and difficult”.

The SDF progressed east towards what is known as the Old City on Tuesday, as residents reported heavy shelling. The area is fortified by 8th-century walls, a reminder that it was once the capital of the Abbasid Islamic caliphate.

Satellite images taken on May 20 appeared to show that Daesh had erected a few defences on the road to the Old City. In an interview with Al Jazeera, an SDF fighter said his unit was attempting to clear the area of booby traps and Daesh snipers.

Human Rights Watch issued a plea to the US-backed force to do all they can to protect the tens of thousands of civilians who are believed to be trapped inside the city.

“The battle for Raqqa is not just about defeating Daesh, but also about protecting and assisting the civilians who have suffered under the Daesh rule for three-and-a-half years,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

“Coalition members and local forces should demonstrate concretely that the lives and rights of the hundreds of thousands of civilians in Raqqa are a parallel priority in the offensive,” Fakih added.

Monitoring groups say coalition air strikes have caused an unusually high rate of civilian casualties in recent months. The SDF also have killed civilians as they shelled Daesh territory.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights monitoring group published photographs on Tuesday of a young girl it named as Naya Abo Haif, saying she had died in shelling the day before alongside her father and brother. In one image, she stood smiling shyly in a Minnie Mouse T-shirt. Another showed the child’s body wrapped in a green shroud, her face half masked with blood.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is calling for help securing land routes so its staff can reach tens of thousands of displaced civilians across the surrounding province. According to the agency’s figures, more than 100,000 people were on the move in the area during May alone, many of them displaced several times over.

Residents still inside Raqqa say that food supplies are dwindling, while running water is available for only a few hours a day. One man described snipers across the city’s rooftops, shooting at anyone who tried to flee.

In neighbouring Iraq, Daesh is close to losing its one-time stronghold of Mosul, after a months-long battle led by elite US-trained units of the Iraqi army.

The pressures on Raqqa and Mosul, cities Daesh once called capitals, have seen senior leaders move to Deir Al Zor, a vast stretch of the oil-rich Syrian desert that sits between those areas. US- and Iran-backed forces have been jostling for position ahead of an offensive to capture Deir Al Zor and further their own regional ambitions in the process.

For Iran, securing a land route across the Syria-Iraq border to its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, is a key motivation. The United States lists Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation due to its attacks on Israel, so it would oppose such a conduit.

For the United States, control of Deir Al Zor would be a boost to President Trump’s calls to blunt Tehran’s influence in the region. It also would provide US-backed forces with an important bargaining chip to use in the event of a final peace settlement for Syria.

Although the United States has shown willingness to back its force of Arab fighters with defensive air strikes, there are few signs that the rebels are strong enough militarily to move northeast to Deir Al Zor.

This weekend, an assortment of Iranian-backed militias appeared to all but end US hopes of reaching the town of Al Bukamal — an important staging point for any offensive on Deir Al Zor — by looping around a Syrian rebel force supported by US Special Operations forces to cut their planned route.