Raqqa still haunted by IS one year after its expulsion
IEDs planted by the Islamic State in Raqqa still litter the war-torn Syrian city one year after the radical group was ousted from its former stronghold, but mine-disposal teams also find newly planted mines.
RAQQA, Syria — Hagid "the minesweeper" put on his black latex gloves and placed his work kit on a piece of collapsed ceiling. Flashlight stuck between his teeth, he illuminated the mine he just discovered behind flowerpots in a stairwell. The building, once part of the Euphrates University, is no more than a wreck — the result of a gruesome, four-month-long battle. The second floor crashed on the first.
Hagid cut a wire and raised the neutralized mine with both hands to take a look at it. “A nongovernmental organization was supposed to have completely cleaned the building,” the Raqqa native told Al-Monitor.
In what was for three years the largest stronghold of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, mine-disposal experts feel overwhelmed. The jihadis, known for producing sophisticated explosive devices on an industrial scale, booby-trapped every corner of Raqqa.
In the first months following the reconquest of the city on Oct. 17, 2017, by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic forces (SDF), an average of 10 civilians a day were killed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), representatives of the Raqqa Civil Council (RCC), doctors and soldiers told Al-Monitor. One year on, jihadis still spill blood in the streets of Raqqa.
