Syrian Government Strikes on ISIS Targets in Raqqa Kill Dozens, Half of Them Civilians

At least 63 people, half of them civilians, were killed in airstrikes by Syrian government forces on ISIS targets on the northeastern city of Raqqa on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, 10 warplanes struck at least 10 times in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State.

“The Syrian Observatory said Tuesday’s air raids had targeted a popular market near Raqqa’s museum as well as the industrial area where two explosions caused most of the casualties,” the BBC reports.

“At least 36 of those killed are civilians. As for the rest, we are not sure yet if they were fighters,” said Rami Abdulrahman of the Observatory, quoting residents and activists in the city.

ISIS drove Syrian government forces out of Raqqa province last August, seizing a key air base, and capturing and executing Syrian soldiers. It is the only “provincial capital to have been lost by the government” since the beginning of the uprising in 2011.

The U.S.-led coalition strikes have targeted Raqqa and other ISIS strongholds in northern and eastern Syria since September.

Proposal for Refugee ‘Safe Zones’ Gains Traction

“Syria’s main opposition coalition on Monday urged U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura to include setting up border ‘refuge zones’ in his plans to ease the country’s conflict,” AFP reports.

The zones should “exclude regime forces, its militias and allies” and establish no-fly zones to protect civilians, the National Coalition said.

France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also voiced his support this week for “safe zones” to be set up in Syria where citizens would be out of reach of regime forces and ISIS jihadists.

According to Fabius, France is working alongside De Mistura who has proposed “freeze” zones to allow for aid deliveries and lay the groundwork for peace talks. De Mistura has proposed the northern city of Aleppo as a “good candidate” for such a freeze.

On November 11, following talks with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, the Syrian government said the idea was “worth studying.”

Aleppo has been divided between government and rebel forces for over two years. It is now close to complete siege by Syrian government forces.

“A siege would cut off an estimated half a million people from access to food, medicine, fuel and other basic necessities,” the Los Angeles Times wrote on Monday.

“Abandoning Aleppo would be to condemn Syria and its neighbors to years, and I mean years, of chaos, with terrible human consequences,” said Fabius.

Syrian Foreign Minister Begins Two-Day Visit to Russia for Weapons and Money

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem begins a two-day visit to Russia today after a similar trip by a former Syrian opposition chief was made earlier this month.

According to Reuters, “Moscow is trying to restart Syria talks that collapsed in Geneva in February.”

“It is important that constructive Syrian opposition forces restart political dialogue with official [representatives of] Damascus in the face of dangerous challenges posed by international terrorism,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Monday.

Russia has rejected opposition and Western calls for the departure of Assad and has long supported him with arms supplies for Syria. It says that cooperation with the regime in Damascus is necessary to fight “terrorists on the ground.”

According to Deutsche Welle, the Syrian foreign minister is looking to secure both weapons and a loan from the Russian government.

“We have told Russia that we want quality weapons,” he said in a recent interview with a Lebanese newspaper, including S-300 weapons.

Russia and Syria signed an agreement for a transaction of Russia’s S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in 2010. In September 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had put further deliveries of the S-300 systems to Syria on hold.

Syria’s foreign minister will likely also “ask Russia for a loan of $1 billion to stabilize its devalued currency.”

Recommended Reads:

• AFP: ISIS Stones Two Gay Men to Death in Syria

• Deutsche Welle: Syria Looks to Moscow for Help

• Al Monitor: Kurds Vision for Syria Depends on Fate of Kobani

• Daily Star: Safe Zones in Syria: A Humanitarian Zone in Qusair

• Al Jazeera: Nearly Half of Syrian Population Needs Aid

• Daily Star: Two Worlds in Syria’s Aleppo United by Fear

• Daily Beast: Train Syria’s Rebels? Maybe Next Year