Escalated massacres by the International Coalition warplanes in Al-Raqqah leave around 60 civilians dead, including 30 children and women
The recovery of the dead bodies of a large number of martyrs increases the death toll from the International Coalition shelling on Al-Raqqah
Al-Raqqah Province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the International Coalition escalated their shelling during the past few days on Al-Raqqah city, which used to be the main stronghold of ISIS in Syria, causing more casualties among civilians, who are trapped between the hammer of the “Islamic State” organization and the anvil of the International Coalition. Tens of thousands of civilians are still besieged in the center of Al-Raqqah. If they manage to escape from the shelling of the International Coalition, they might fall victim to the landmines planted by ISIS to prevent the forces operating as part of the Grand Battle of Al-Raqqah from advancing again. It should be noted that such forces aim at expelling ISIS from the city and taking full control of it.
The SOHR learned that recovery operations were conducted to pull out the dead bodies of the civilians who were killed as a result of the International Coalition airstrikes on neighborhoods in Al-Raqqah. The SOHR activists observed the recovery of the dead bodies of 21 martyrs, including 11 children below the age of 18 and 5 women. The International Coalition had shelled the day before yesterday, Tuesday the 15th of August 2017, Al-Moataz Street in Al-Rasheed area in the Old City, located in Al-Raqqah city center. Thus, the number of civilian fatalities, documented so far by the SOHR as a result of Tuesday shelling, rose to at least 25, including 13 children and 6 women who belong to several families. The death toll increased when more bodies of the martyrs were pulled out of the rubble caused by the shelling in Al-Moataz Street. Thus, the number of fatalities documented by the SOHR since the afternoon of Monday, the 14th of August 2017, rose to at least 59, including 21 children below the age of 18 and 9 women above the age of 18. The death toll is still likely to rise because some of the injured are in a critical condition and some are still missing, whether they were killed or are still alive is still unknown.