{"id":62793,"date":"2017-08-24T18:55:31","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T18:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/08\/24\/un-calls-for-halt-of-us-air-campaign-over-raqqa-to-save-civilians\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:27:07","slug":"un-calls-for-halt-of-us-air-campaign-over-raqqa-to-save-civilians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/08\/24\/un-calls-for-halt-of-us-air-campaign-over-raqqa-to-save-civilians\/","title":{"rendered":"UN calls for halt of US air campaign over Raqqa to save civilians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Officials at the United Nations have called for a halt to the U.S.-led air campaign against ISIS in Raqqa on humanitarian grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow is the time to think of possibilities, pauses or otherwise that might facilitate the escape of civilians, knowing that Islamic State fighters are doing their absolute best to use them as human shields,\u201d Jan Egeland, a special adviser to the UN Special Envoy for Syria, told reporters at a briefing in Geneva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Egeland, there are five neighborhoods in Raqqa under ISIS control where nearly 20,000 civilians are concentrated, and constant air raids and shelling by the coalition are causing heavy civilian casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI cannot think of a worse place on earth now than in these five neighborhoods and for these 20,000 people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN has called for similar humanitarian pauses in places such as Aleppo, Egeland said. However, the situation in Raqqa is worse because there is no communication with ISIS fighters in Raqqa who may be intentionally holding civilians as human shields, he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the time to try anything to allow their safe escape,\u201d he added. \u201cAt the moment, few people leave because they are afraid for their lives, really. They fear certainly from those holding those areas, but they also fear for shelling and air raids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S.- backed Kurdish fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces are currently in their third month of fighting to liberate the de facto ISIS capital of Raqqa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SDF currently control nearly 60 percent of the embattled city, according to Maj. Gen. Rupert Jones, the deputy commanding general for Operation Inherent Resolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, incremental gains by the SDF in the city have not come without a cost. According to recent reporting from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights \u2014 a human rights watchdog group monitoring Syria \u2014 nearly 167 civilians were killed in coalition bombing early this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe go to the very greatest lengths possible to protect civilians. We regret every single civilian casualty, and we would never destroy property unless we had to,\u201d Jones said in a televised Pentagon briefing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\t