UN: ‘Staggering’ civilian deaths from US-led air strikes in Raqqa

United Nations war crimes investigators said on Wednesday that intensified coalition air strikes supporting an assault by US-backed forces on ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria were causing a “staggering loss of civilian life”.

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 with the aim of taking it from the militants. The SDF, supported by heavy coalition air strikes, have taken territory to the west, east and north of the city.

Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry also told the Human Rights Council that 10 agreements between the Syrian government and armed groups to evacuate fighters and civilians from besieged areas, including eastern Aleppo, “in some cases amount to war crimes” as civilians had “no choice”.