In the militant Islamic State group’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, sirens ring out whenever a warplane approaches as jihadists flee their posts and vehicles to hide, activists say.
A United States (US)-led coalition and Russia have stepped up air strikes on the jihadists’ de facto Syrian capital since IS claimed to have downed a Russian passenger plane over Egypt’s Sinai in October and the deadly jihadist attacks in Paris two weeks later.
“The sirens are on the roofs of high buildings, in the squares and in the streets,” Taym Ramadan, a city resident and anti-IS activist, told AFP.
“When a warplane enters Raqqa’s air space, the sirens ring out to warn IS members,” said the activist from the “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently” campaign group.
“As soon as they hear the sirens, they immediately leave their posts,” he said.
“Some of them have been seen to leave their vehicles in the middle of the road” to hide.
A fellow activist who calls himself Abu Sham al-Raqa added: “Whenever the jets fly over they set off the sirens to warn the fighters and the residents, and the problem is that the bombing is going on night and day.”
Raqqa has been under IS control since January 2014 after heavy fighting between the jihadists and opposition fighters, who had seized it from regime control in March 2013.
“Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently” has secretly documented IS abuses in the city since April 2014 when it became off-limits for journalists after several were taken hostage and killed.
