• Destroyed neighbourhood in central Raqqa. Photo: David Pratt for The National
    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
    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
    A boy watches firemen unearth corpses in Raqqa. Photo: David Pratt for The National
  • Exahusted firemen in the rubble of bomb blasted Raqqa. Photo: David Pratt for The National
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Firemen remove bodies after complaints by people living downstairs. Photo: David Pratt for The National

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

The National

May 23, 2018

  • English
  • Arabic

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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Read more

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

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Syria