Syria's Raqqa ravaged as ISIS militant still lurk - in pictures

The city remains a dangerous place where those brave enough to live feel abandoned by the outside world

Destroyed neighbourhood in central Raqqa. Photo: David Pratt for The National

Children in heavily fought over neighbourhood in central Raqqa. Photo: David Pratt for The National

A boy watches firemen unearth corpses in Raqqa. Photo: David Pratt for The National

<p>Exahusted firemen in the rubble of bomb blasted Raqqa. Photo: David Pratt for The National

Bodies retrieved from the rubble of the city are buried in mass graves in Raqqa outskirts. Photo: David Pratt for The National

Children cover their faces against the smell of bodies as its loaded into ambulance in Raqqa. Photo: David Pratt for The National

Body bags containing corpses in the back of a fire truck in Raqqa. Photo: David Pratt for The National

Firemen remove bodies after complaints by people living downstairs. Photo: David Pratt for The National

More than 400,000 people once inhabited the Syrian city of Raqqa before the civil war engulfed their lives.

Since then, control of the city has changed hands three times. First, rebels seized it from the Syrian government and then it was taken from them by fighters from ISIS.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by US air and artillery strikes, flushed out ISIS from the self-proclaimed capital of its caliphate earlier this year.

Today, the story goes that ISIS has gone. But they have not. And the hell of Raqqa remains.

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David Pratt: Raqqa has been liberated but ISIS fighters still lurk

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