The effect of fierce shelling on Raqqa, stories told by civilians

Raqqa – North-Press Agency

Mustafa Hebron

Memories of pain overshadow the reality of Raqqa city, which was dominated by military conflict forces since the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011, forcing residents to talk about it with renewed pain, as if it still there in front of their eyes.

As the Syrian government forces lost control over the city of Raqqa in 2013, armed opposition groups and Jabhat al-Nusra (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham currently) took control of it, the Syrian government airforce shelled the city, causing major damage to its infrastructure, which remained an evident of the ferocity of those air strikes.

Moreover, the city also had another share of intense bombardment which was conducted by Global Coalition aircraft, during the operations of taking down the Islamic State group (IS), as the city of Raqqa was a main stronghold of the latter.

In a collective interview with North-Press, residents of Raqqa city recalled air bombardments by Syrian warplanes in June 2014, in al-Ejeli neighborhood in the center of the old city.

According to residents, this incident was called the “Singer Blow,” after the shops of Singer agency for hand sewing machines.

Nayef Ibrahim, sewing machine salesman in the city of Raqqa, has told North-Press recalling Singer incident: “The bombing killed my brother Jumma, as he was working in our shop on the back of the basement market, the bombardment destroyed our shop completely along with the goods.”

Ibrahim mentioned the value of his losses, which were estimated at about 5 million Syrian pounds, equivalent to about $ 25.000 at that time.

He added that the strike caused the death of about 23 people, including children aged between 9 and 10 years, pointing out that it “caused great damage in the area, and burned 8 cars parking in the street.”

Ibrahim continues telling the story of his suffering, which wasn’t only limited to the Syrian government warplanes bombardment, as air bombing by Global Coalition on the city of Raqqa, killed his second brother, Sami, in addition to destroying his house, in the west part of the city.

For his part, Ammar Muhammad Muslim, who works in pastry bakery in the center of Raqqa city, said that their shop was exposed to “more than one strike by the Syrian government aircraft,” noting that, “the most severe strike was on the 6th of September 2014.”

According to Muslim, his shop was completely demolished, in addition, a 13-year-old boy who was standing in front of the shop selling pastries on a small stall, was killed. He estimated his losses at about 40 million Syrian pounds ($ 200,000) at that time.

While Abdulaziz al-Atrash, a worker at Al-Andalos bakery forpastry, said that the last strike which hit their shop had killed 25 people. “I moved some of injured people to the hospital who were still alive, but their bodies were cut, including women and children,” al-Atrash said.

One of the most significant damage caused by Russian airstrikes on the city of Raqqa was affecting the new bridge of Raqqa on the Euphrates River in early November 2015.