US airstrikes on the Syrian city Raqqa killed at least 42 civilians on Sunday and Monday, according to monitoring groups following the coalition’s offensive against ISIL.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday’s strikes brought the number of civilians killed by the US-led coalition since August 14 to at least 167, including 59 children.
The group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently said Sunday’s airstrikes hit an apartment building in the city’s Al Bedoo neighbourhood and that the toll in that single strike alone was as high as 40 deaths, with bodies remaining under the rubble.
The US-led coalition reported that on Sunday the coalition carried out 21 strikes “near Raqqa” that resulted in the destruction of 22 ISIL “fighting positions” and said that the claims civilians were killed would be investigated.
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Read more:
For some Raqqa residents, battlefield is the only place to call home
The battle for Tal Afar and why Shiite militias are involved
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“The Coalition takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and assesses all credible allegations of possible civilian casualties. However, the recent allegations by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights lack specificity and detail making it very difficult to properly assess,” a spokesperson for US Central Command said on Tuesday.
Civilian casualties have also been an issue for the US-led coalition in Iraq. The monitoring group Airwars said it had received claims that as many as 8,600 civilians had been killed Mosul since the campaign to drive ISIL from that city began nearly a year ago. The group says it has already confirmed at least 1,000 civilian deaths in Mosul as a result of the US-led coalition’s bombing, and in recent months there has been a 400 per cent increase in claims of civilian casualties in the fight against ISIL that began in 2014.
“It starts in Mach of 2017 – civilian casualty numbers have more than doubled under Trump,” said Chris Woods, the lead researcher at Airwars. “There are several reasons for that – the stage of the war that we’re in, and that Raqqa and Mosul were going on simultaneously.”
“We also feel like something else is going on – the protections for civilians on the battlefield have been loosened by the US,” Mr Woods said. “We are starting to see a number of mass casualty events reported out of Raqqa.”
In the most recent monthly civilian casualty report released by US Central Command on August 4, the military admitted to 624 “likely” civilian casualties since the beginning of Operation Inherent Resolve more than three years ago. Inherent resolve is the name the US military has given to the ongoing operation against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed militia that began fighting inside the city of Raqqa in June with the support of US airstrikes and artillery, could not be reached for comment.
The United Nations estimates that somewhere between 10,000 and 25,000 civilians remain trapped in Raqqa in increasingly desperate conditions.
Amnesty International plans to release a report on Thursday detailing the dangers faced by civilians as the fighting has intensified and documenting hundreds of civilian casualties.
“Things will only get more dangerous as the battle reaches its final stages in the city centre,” said Donatella Rivera, Senior Crisis Response Adviser at Amnesty International, who led the on-the-ground investigation. “More can and must be done to preserve the lives of civilians trapped in the conflict and to facilitate their safe passage away from the battleground.”
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
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Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
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Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
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Lexus LX700h specs
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Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Spare
Profile
Company name: Spare
Started: March 2018
Co-founders: Dalal Alrayes and Saurabh Shah
Based: UAE
Sector: FinTech
Investment: Own savings. Going for first round of fund-raising in March 2019
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
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- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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