“[Fifty] woman and children received by SDF yesterday [Thursday] in Raqqa – 1,500 civilians to safety in past week. 85% of city in SDF control,” Colonel Ryan Dillon, Spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve and the US-led coalition against ISIS tweeted on Friday.
Omar Alloush of the Raqqa Civilian Council told The Associated Press on Friday that roughly 100 ISIS militants had surrendered to the SDF, but did not provide details on how it occurred.
He also confirmed that fighting is still ongoing in some parts of the city, which was once the de facto capital of ISIS in Syria.
“There are still fighters but the area they control is getting smaller,” said Mohammed Khedher of Sound and Picture Organization, which tracks atrocities by ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
ISIS still controls Raqqa’s main stadium, which sources believe is being used as a prison by the militants. They also retain control of the National Hospital and a small part of the northern area of the city.
The US-led coalition reported that ISIS militants are using civilians as human shields as the fight to retake the city enters its final stages, however they are making efforts to ensure safe evacuation of approximately 4,000 civilians who remain trapped in the city.
ISIS has largely withdrawn from areas in the north of the city and are concentrated in the city center, according to the UK-based conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Observatory said hundreds of ISIS militants have been killed in recent weeks and those who remain are running out of weapons and food.
According to the Observatory, about 1,100 civilians have been killed by coalition airstrikes in Raqqa since the offensive began in early June.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is alarmed regarding reports of increased military operations across Syria causing a high number of civilian casualties in recent weeks.
Reports show that these are the worst levels of violence the war-torn nation has seen since the battle for Aleppo in 2016. Not only have military operations increased in western rural Aleppo, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor but also in many of the de-escalation zones such as Idlib, rural Hama and eastern Ghouta.
The Red Cross also reported as many as ten hospitals have been damaged due to the airstrikes cutting thousands of people off from access to basic healthcare needs.
Humanitarian organizations in camps near Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor are struggling to provide aid and assistance to over 1,000 women, children and men who are arriving daily as they flee military operations in the region.
“Military operations must not disregard the fate of civilians and of the vital infrastructure on which their survival depends,” said ICRC's regional director for the Near and Middle East, Robert Mardini.
