Syrian Airstrikes Kill 63 in ISIS City, More Than Half Civilians

Attacks Targeted Raqqa's Industrial District

Syrian warplanes attacked the industrial district of the ISIS capital city of Raqqa today, killing at least 63 people and wounding scores of others. More than half of the slain, 36, were reportedly civilians.

Raqqa, in the northern Syrian province of the same name, has been controlled by ISIS for many months, and they have also taken over the rest of the province. The territory is bordered by Syrian government territory to the southwest, and rival rebels’ territory to the west.

US and allied warplanes have been pounding Raqqa for weeks, but they reported no new strikes of their own in the past 24 hours, which led to the Assad government striking instead.

Most of the casualties, and the vast majority of civilians, were killed in a secondary strike, after the first strike pounded the industrial zone and rescuers rushed to the scene to try to dig people out of the wreckage.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.