RNA - “Coalition airstrikes have intensified around the city (of Raqqa),” said Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry, the Reuters reported.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of Kurdish and Arab militias supported by a US-led coalition, began to attack Raqqa a week ago to take it from the ISIL.
The SDF, supported by heavy coalition airstrikes, have taken territory to the West, East and North of the city.
“As the operation is gaining pace very rapidly, civilians are caught up in the city under the oppressive rule of ISIL, while facing extreme danger associated with movement due to excessive air strikes,” he told reporters.
“We have documented the deaths caused by the coalition airstrikes only and we have about 300 deaths, 200 in one place, in al-Mansoura, one village,” Karen Abuzayd, an American commissioner on the independent panel, said.
The UN investigators do not have access to Syria. They interview survivors and witnesses in neighboring countries or by Skype with those still in Syria.
Pinheiro, speaking earlier to the UN Human Rights Council, said that there had been a “staggering loss of civilian life” due to coalition airstrikes that had forced 160,000 civilians to flee their homes.
Rival forces are racing to capture ground from ISIL around Raqqa, and the Syrian army is also advancing on the desert area West of the city.
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