Air strikes killed at least 39 civilians on Saturday in Raqa, the Islamic State group’s main stronghold in Syria, a monitoring group said.
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Five members of ISIS’s self-styled police force were also killed and 60 people were wounded, some critically, according to the monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground. It released a video that purports to show the “massacre committed by Russian aircraft in one of Raqqa’s most congested streets”.
The three groups said the air raids struck near the national hospital, a former army base and other neighbourhoods.
The US previously insisted yesterday that Russia hasn’t launched airstrikes in a week, though the Observatory has continued to report Russian airstrikes regularly throughout that period. A Kurdish-led force supported by the USA and Russian Federation has said that it is planning to liberate the city in the next months.
Russian Federation has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since 30 September previous year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made it clear on Saturday that the pullout of his forces from Syria and Iraq that he ordered last week can be delayed when opportunities become available – in particular when the target is ISIS which was specifically excluded from the cease-fire deal in effect.
This ceasefire does not cover operations against al Qaeda or Islamic State militants.
In recent weeks, Syrian troops backed by the Russian air force have been pressing an advance to try to reclaim the ancient city.
It said the strikes came a day after 16 people were killed by similar strikes on al-Raqqa.
They say most of the casualties were civilians.
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