SYRIAN CITY OF RAQQA GRIPPED BY FEAR OF US AIR STRIKES ON ISIS (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by STANews , Monday, September 15, 2014, 13:44

Isis fighters sit on a tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Photograph: Uncredited/AP

The city where the western hostages slain by the Islamic State (Isis) terror group were held is nervously preparing for an onslaught. Each night since Barack Obama said he would bomb Isis targets in Syria, residents of the eastern city of Raqqa – those who support the group and those who abhor it – have sat in fear waiting for the air strikes to begin.

Many believe that the city's civilians will pay the price of a campaign to root out Isis, which after controlling Raqqa for more than a year is now well embedded in its ramshackle neighbourhoods and entwined into much of its social fabric.

Isis has run Raqqa with impunity since it ousted the Syrian regime in mid-2013, fearing no foe and ruthlessly imposing its worldview on a population that has been unwilling to confront them.

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/15/syria-raqqa-fear-us-air-strikes-isis