As U.S. Strikes Loom, Syrian Civilians Fear Becoming Collateral Damage

[Purveyor]

With the looming prospect of U.S. strikes on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the eastern province of Raqqa, many panicked Syrians are moving away from the city center and from ISIS buildings and checkpoints, often to rural areas.

The fear of becoming collateral damage is rooted in years of conflict that has seen the civilian death toll impacted by everything from regime-led barrel bombing campaigns and sniper fire to suicide bombings and starvation.

We asked Ayham Kamel, director of the Middle East and Africa program at the Eurasia Group, and Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Dubai think tank INEGMA, to weigh in on where Syrian civilians stand as strikes loom and the price they could ultimately pay to root out ISIS.

Theodore Karasik: Based on what we've seen from airstrikes by the Syrian regime, ISIS is putting civilians into areas that are next to key buildings of the ISIS government. ISIS is also beginning to disperse itself and its military hardware into civilian areas. The purpose is just like in any other conflict – to make sure that these civilians are being used as human shields. This is a tactic that many non-state actors have used to make sure that if there's any collateral damage, civilians are casualties. And then those numbers can be published in ISIS media.

It seems that citizens in Raqqa are more afraid of ISIS than of anything else, but they're also afraid of the Syrian regime. So if the airstrikes go as planned, we may begin to have internal refugee flows from that part of Syria and the displaced are going to be caught up in the battle between the regime and ISIS – and any special operations forces on the ground in the future.

When we're talking about these airstrikes, we don't know when they're going to happen, and that's an important aspect of this. Soon? After Eid? Are they going to be a month or two down the road, or further?

more...

http://www.syriadeeply.org/articles/2014/09/6106/u-s-strikes-loom-syrian-civilians-fear-collateral-damage/

[grahamhgreen]

1. The more you bomb cilvilians, the more 'terrorists' you create. Our track record proves this.

[quadrature]

2. Obama's target list ? ...

so what does Obama attack?

roadblocks
electric power stations
gasoline stations
food markets
bridges/dams
schools hiding terrorists
mosques hiding terrorists
tunnels
anything that moves
anything that doesn't move
anything