Activists claim white phosphorous is being used in Raqqa airstrikes

A report by the Independent suggests that the deadly chemical weapon know as white phosphorous is being used in airstrikes against Daesh in Raqqa.

The information comes from activists from the civilian network “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently”, which consists of citizen journalists who serve as the primary source for information from within Raqqa, Daesh’s self-proclaimed capital in Syria.

The group stated that “that air strikes targeted Raqqa today (Sunday) with phosphorus” munitions.

Both Russian and French fighter jets have been bombarding Raqqa with airstrikes in an ongoing campaign.

Earlier this month the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, a Syrian opposition group, claimed that a Russian warplane targeted Idlib province’s Benin village using a white phosphorous bomb.

White phosphorous is much like Napalm, in that it is an incendiary chemical weapon which the skin to melt away from the bone.

The use of incendiary weapons against civilian populations and in air attacks was outlawed at the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons; however, the United States did not sign the protocol.