Seven years after defeat of ISIS in Al-Raqqah | Residents complain of destruction of buildings and poor services

Despite the liberation of Al-Raqqah city from ISIS seven years ago, the city’s residents have complained of the considerable destruction of buildings and residential facilities and poor services due to the fierce military battles.

The military battles in north-east Syria in general, and particularly in Al-Raqqah which was the capital of “Caliphate State” between 2014 and 2017 and during the “war against terrorism” or “Euphrates Wrath” operation led by the US-led International Coalition against ISIS, have caused considerable destruction to infrastructure, where the rate of damage to residential buildings and other facilities reached 80%.

The International Coalition later started several projects and programs to rehabilitate the buildings and infrastructure destroyed by the war. Sadly, support provided by international authorities and organisations after the liberation of Al-Raqqah has been politicized: this, in turn, led to disastrous repercussions which negatively affected the indigenous inhabitants and displaced people in Al-Raqqah for the past seven years, where this support was not directed to rehabilitation of residential buildings, schools, health and medical centres and irrigation stations and canals.

Speaking to SOHR, an activist known by his initials as I. A. from Al-Raqqah “although seven years passed after the ‘Euphrates Wrath’ operation, the tragic situation has been still affecting locals. Destruction is noticeable in every street, market, neighbourhood and village in the disaster zone. Moreover, several neighbourhoods still suffer from total blackout because of the destruction of electricity network. The health situation and education is very poor, while the movement of reconstruction is still fragile. The considerable damage of many schools and medical and educational centres proves this fact. The fierce battles destroyed most of the region’s buildings and facilities. However, the regime airstrikes on Al-Raqqah in 2013, after the city had become outside regime’s control, remain the most violent. 50 % of the destruction affected the city took place before 2016, because of the violent airstrikes by Russian and regime forces.

A 55-year-old woman known as “Um Abboud” living in Al-Qoutli street told SOHR activists “two of my relatives with three children and a woman were killed in Russian airstrikes in the winter of 2016, which targeted then the entire neighbourhood of Al-Wahab. The first airstrike targeted a house and killed a woman and two young men, while the second airstrike, which was executed 15 minutes after the first one, destroyed six houses and killed three children and a woman and injured tens others. The destruction caused by those airstrikes remains until today. The city, which was liberated from ISIS seven years ago, still needs to a comprehensive reconstruction, where it was totally destroyed when Syrian Democratic Forces took its control. The International Coalition dropped nearly 10,000 bombs on the city in 2018, killing civilians. Bridges and governmental buildings have not survived the war, and those constructions remain the most vital ones for locals. The bridges of Al-Mansour, Al-Rashid, Al-Maghallah and Al-Mansourah, the Euphrates Dam and the bridges across irrigation cannels of Al-Adnaniyah, Al-Hayshah, Al-Karamah and Al-Assadiyah had been all put out of service. Al-Raqqah Civil Council managed to rebuild Al-Mansour bridge and constructed several metal bridges, while Al-Rashid bridge was inaugurated two weeks ago. Al-Rashid bridge is the third most important construction after the Euphrates Dam and Al-Mansour Dam which were also rehabilitated in Al-Raqqah.”

In a testimony to SOHR, a 60-year-old man called “Abo Khalid” living in Al-Kuwaiti neighbourhood in Al-Raqqah city bemoaned his and his neighbours’ destroyed houses. The man said “I was among the people left the neighbourhood last in the summer of 2017, during the military battles against ISIS. The bombardment was violent and destroyed over 40 houses in the neighbourhood which was inhabited mostly by poor families and families with low incomes. In 2020, an organisation visited the neighbourhood and checked the situation there with the aim of rehabilitating the destroyed buildings. However, the organisation excluded many houses, while most of us managed to rehabilitate small parts of our houses to shelter us, but they remain inappropriate for habitation. Several programs and organisations worked in 2020, 2021 and 2022 on providing partial support for the owner of some houses. However, this support did not cover the affected people in poor neighbourhoods, such as Al-Kuwaiti, Nazlat Shahada and Al-Dar’iyah, where support then was confined to securing windows and doors only according to the policy of support.”

It is worth noting that over 128 international-funded governmental and international organisations and programs have worked in Al-Raqqah city on setting plans for the reconstruction of the city. However, destruction is everywhere in the city’s streets and neighbourhoods.

Locals hope to obtain compensation for the destruction which affected their homes. Relatively rich inhabitants managed to reconstruct their houses, while the most of residents, who struggle with extreme poverty, have failed to do so.