October 20 marks the eighth anniversary of the so-called "Liberation of Raqqa," the military operation launched by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in 2017 against Islamic State group.
The operation, led by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), resulted in the near-total destruction of the city and the deaths of thousands of civilians, according to human rights and international reports.
During the four months of fighting, the coalition carried out more than 30,000 airstrikes. According to estimates by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, these airstrikes resulted in the deaths of at least 5,000 civilians and the destruction of approximately 11,000 residential buildings. Entire neighborhoods were also hit by incendiary munitions, including internationally banned white phosphorus.
In a report titled "Raqqa razed to the ground," Amnesty International said the city had been reduced to "a lifeless ruin," noting that the scale of the destruction "exceeded anything Syria had witnessed during the war." The United Nations also documented destruction rates exceeding 80% of the city's infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, water, and electricity networks.
Eight years later, Raqqa still suffers from the effects of the destruction, as its residents work to rebuild what they can of their homes with simple tools, amidst a near-total absence of basic services.
Local activists point out that the tunneling operations currently being carried out by the SDF inside and around the city threaten what remains of urban and security stability, bringing to mind the scenes of the first devastation.
The people of Raqqa believe their city has been "silently killed, silently destroyed, and silently rebuilt," amid the international community's disregard for their ongoing suffering and the absence of any real path to accountability or reconstruction.
Eight years have separated the devastation of 2017 and the situation we are witnessing today in 2025, yet the landscape has not emerged from the cycle of suffering: the absence of justice remains an obstacle to every attempt at reconciliation, and reconstruction is proceeding at a slow pace, reflecting the lack of a clear vision and genuine protection for the affected population. What has been achieved so far has been merely superficial infrastructure restoration, while the social and psychological wounds remain unhealed. This leaves the tragic past lingering in the details of the present and confirms that reconstruction can only be completed through justice and accountability.
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