Syrian civilians paying 'unacceptable price' in Daesh-held Raqqah: UN

The UN human rights chief says civilians trapped in the Syrian city of Raqqah are paying an “unacceptable price,” suggesting that the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group may be violating international law in the territory.

“Given the extremely high number of reports of civilian casualties this month and the intensity of the airstrikes on Raqqah, coupled with Daesh’s use of civilians as human shields, I am deeply concerned that civilians -- who should be protected at all times -- are paying an unacceptable price and forces involved in battling Daesh are losing sight of the ultimate goal of this battle,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in a statement on Thursday.

The top UN human rights official added that “the attacking forces may be failing to abide by the international humanitarian law principles of precautions, distinction, and proportionality.”

The UN statement further noted that the US-led coalition has conducted nearly 1,100 airstrikes on and near the militant-held city of Raqqah this month, and that the figure showed a marked rise once compared to 645 aerial attacks last month.

“Daesh members continue to prevent civilians from fleeing the area, although some manage to leave after paying large amounts of money to smugglers. We have reports of smugglers also being publicly executed by Daesh,” Zeid pointed out.

Separately, UN Deputy Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien said more than two dozen people were being killed in Raqqah per day.

“The UN estimates that an average of 27 people are being killed in Raqqah every day, and up to 25,000 civilians still remain trapped in the city and are increasingly exposed to the crossfire of the ongoing fighting. They risk being killed either by airstrikes, or by ISIL (Daesh) snipers, or mines if they try to flee, or being used as human shields if they remain,” O'Brien stated.

The city of Raqqah, which lies on the northern bank of the Euphrates River, was overrun by Daesh terrorists in March 2013, and was proclaimed the center for most of the Takfiris’ administrative and control tasks the following year. 

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says Daesh extremists are holding some of the civilians trapped in Raqqah as human shields.

The world body says it has documented 151 civilian deaths in six incidents alone in August, due to US-led airstrikes and clashes between the US-backed militiamen from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Daesh terrorists in Raqqah.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. 

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying Daesh.

On June 6, the SDF said they had launched an operation aimed at pushing Daesh out of Raqqah.

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