US-Led Coalition Attacks Raqqa National Hospital with Phosphorus Bombs

RAQQA, (ST)- The US-led coalition, allegedly fighting ISIS in Syria, has attacked the National Hospital in the city of Raqqa with internationally-banned white phosphorus bombs, according to the Deputy Director of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent’s (SARC) branch in Raqqa Dina al-As’ad.

In a statement, al-As’ad  said that the coalition used white phosphorus in bombing the hospital Thursday night and it also fired more than 20 shells against the hospital’s electricity generators, ambulances and internal parts, adding that the hospital provides services to 100 thousand people in the city.

 She pointed out that ISIS terrorists have special hospitals and medical centers so the terror group has no presence in the city’s national hospital.

The coalition had earlier used internationally-banned white phosphorus in its aggression on Raqqa on June 9, causing the martyrdom of 17 civilians.

Al-As’ad said that what Raqqa is witnessing is an attempt to destroy the city rather than liberating it, adding that the coalition has destroyed all of the city’s schools, mosques, bakeries, governmental buildings and even water wells which has supplied civilians with water after the main water supply line feeding the city from the Euphrates was shelled.

She urged the United Nations and the international organizations to immediately interfere as to put an end to the targeting of the city’s public utilities and infrastructure by the coalition and the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

On his part, Director of the SARC branch in Raqqa Fawwaz al-Assaf said that the coalition and the US-backed SDF are a adopting a “scorched earth” policy, noting the destruction of 65 government facilities, including the sugar factory which is the biggest economic facility in Raqqa province.

He added that the coalition and the SDF’s shelling targeted the schools, bakeries, banks and even the markets which have no longer been witnessing customer movement.

On Friday, the illegal US-Led Coalition committed a new massacre that claimed the lives of 8 people, a woman and seven children, and wounded scores of civilians in the Syrian city of Raqqa. Two days earlier, the coalition carried out 44 raids on Raqqa, targeting residential building in several neighborhoods. Several people were martyred and wounded in the attacks.

Hamda Mustafa