The bombing and destruction in Raqqa, Syria is only comparable to the destruction of Dresde by the Allies near the end of the Second World War.
D,A,
Trying to describe the destruction in Raqqa, Syria, the Russian Ministry of Defense compared it with the bombing of Dresden during the Second World War.
In fact, the allied bombing of Dresden was very destructive indeed. It was carried out by two waves of bombings of more than 500 airplanes each focusing in an area of 2 km2 (the center of Dresden) in little more than 4 hours. Not only were ALL buildings completely destroyed, but all the people in the underground shelters were completely burned. A prisoner of war who took part in the cleaning work expressed that in some shelters with hundreds of people there were no traces of people, only a gelatinous mass mixed with shoes and other belongings.
The comparison of Raqqa with Dresden gives us an idea of the degree of destruction experienced by this Syrian city which before the war was a thriving and picturesque city on the banks of the Euphrates River with 250,000 inhabitants.
"What the US-led
coalition did to Syria’s Raqqa is comparable to the infamous Allied bombing of
Dresden in 1945, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that the allies may
be rushing to pour money into Raqqa to cover up the aftermath.
Raqqa, which has
served as the Syrian stronghold of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS,
formerly ISIS/ISIL) since January 2014, was seized by the US-backed group
Syrian Democratic Forces earlier this week. Some 80 percent of residential
buildings in the city are estimated to have been rendered uninhabitable during
the fighting, which involved massive bombardment by the US-led coalition’s
airstrikes and artillery shelling.
“Raqqa is still smoldering after the bombardment by
the international coalition, and senior officials in Washington, Paris and
Berlina are already pouring out pledges to allocate tens of millions of dollars
and euros for reconstruction,” Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Gen.
Igor Konashenkov said Sunday.
He said the
intention to help Raqqa residents was commendable, but Moscow could not but
wonder why previously all its calls to deliver humanitarian aid to other parts
of Syria had been ignored or rejected.
“We made a list of
cities and villages most in need and we didn’t distinguish between ‘bad’ and
‘good’ Syrians. But the answer from Washington, Berlin, Paris and London has
always been the same: we can’t, we won’t,” the general said.
The change of
heart may indicate that the US-led coalition simply wants to get rid of the
evidence of its “barbaric bombing” of Raqqa, which resulted in “thousands of
civilians, which [the coalition] claimed to be liberating form ISIL, being
buried under debris”.
“Raqqa’s fate
calls to mind that of Dresden in 1945, leveled by the US-British bombings,” Konashenkov
added, referring to the controversial campaign reaching a peak in February
1945, during which American and British bombers dropped over 3,900 tons of
bombs on the Nazi-controlled German city, killing some 25,000 civilians and
destroying much of its center. The military necessity for such an action was
questioned by many people, while some, including British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill, perceived its goal as terrorizing the German population.
The SDF began its siege of Raqqa in June, with the
US-led coalition supporting it with airstrikes, artillery fire, intelligence
and training. The hostilities caused an exodus of civilians from the
city, with some 270,000 displaced persons currently living in refugee camps in
the province. Some 1,800 to 1,900 civilians have been killed in the fighting,
at least 1,300 of whom were killed by the coalition, according to an estimate
by the Airwars monitoring group.
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