Syria:

Bodies of More Victims of ISIL, US Attacks Found in Raqqa

TEHRAN (defapress)- The bodies of almost 30 civilians killed in the US-led coalition airstrikes and the ISIL attacks were found from debris of ruined buildings and also in mass-graves in Raqqa, media sources reported on Friday.

News ID: 74463

Date: 21 December 2018 - 16:50

Media activists in Raqqa reported that the corpses of 13 civilians, including 2 children and a woman, have been found from under the debris of a building in al-Qataar street ruined in the US raids.

They further said that the dead bodies of 12 other civilians were unearthed from a mass grave in Panorama neighborhood in Western part of Raqqa city, adding that 2 more bodies of the victims were discovered from under the debris of a ruined building in al-Harmiyah neighborhood in Raqqa city.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last month that the bodies of over 8,000 Syrians killed in the bombing raids carried out by the US and the coalition led by it had been found in mass graves in Syria’s Raqqa after the rubble was partially cleared away.

"Last week, the Syrian government, in its letters addressed to the UN secretary general and the UN Security Council president, provided the tragic statistics on the victims of the coalition’s bombing raids in the city of Raqqa during its ‘liberation’ from ISIL (known as ISIS or Daesh)," she noted.

"The bodies of over 4,000 people were found while clearing away the rubble in two of the city’s residential neighborhoods left over from the airstrikes and also around the stadium and the zoo. Those were mainly women, the elderly and children. In addition, a mass grave where more than 2,500 people were buried was uncovered at a farm near a pediatric clinic and the National Hospital, while another burial site was opened near Al-Panorama where 1,500 bombing raids’ victims were buried," Zakharova added.

"The letters stressed that to date just two percent of the rubble had been cleared away in Raqqa, which had been literally razed to the ground," Zakharova emphasized.

According to the diplomat, the statistics turned out to be in stark contrast with "the hysterical reaction expressed by the US and other Western countries with respect to protecting Syrians’ rights", and "the information provided in recent reports by various Western NGOs on the situation in Raqqa".

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