Daesh-held Raqqah worst place in Syria, United Nations says

The United Nations has expressed serious concerns over the humanitarian condition in Syria’s northern city of Raqqah, describing the territory still controlled by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group as “the worst place” in the conflict-plagued Arab country.

“The worst place probably today in Syria is the part of Raqqah that is still held by Daesh,” Jan Egeland, the UN humanitarian adviser for Syria, told reporters in Geneva on Thursday.

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. 

It is estimated that some 300,000 civilians are trapped inside Raqqah, including 80,000 displaced from other parts of Syria. Thousands have fled in recent months, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs believes about 160,000 people remain in the city.

On June 6, the US-backed militiamen from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they had launched an operation aimed at pushing Daesh out of Raqqah.

“They (civilians) are encircled by the SDF fighters and they are used seemingly as human shields by Daesh,” Egeland said, noting that “constant air raids” by the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group also threaten their lives.

SS