Syria Sends Letter to UN About US-Led Coalition's War Crimes in Raqqa in 2017

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Syria sent a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and to the UN Security Council about the war crimes of the US-led international coalition in the city of Raqqa in 2017, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement released by the state agency SANA.

"In an official letter sent to the UN Secretary General and the President of the Security Council about the war crimes committed by the so-called international coalition in the city of Raqqa in 2017, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made it clear that the US military operation carried out by the forces of the illegitimate international coalition in Raqqa in period from June to October 2017, led to the almost complete destruction of the city and thousands of its civilians," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry's statement stressed that the goal of the coalition's operation was to destroy infrastructure, public and private property, and target civilians.

In 2014, Raqqa was captured by militants of the Daesh* terrorist group. In October 2017, the city was liberated after a months-long military operation by the Arab-Kurdish formations of the Syrian Democratic Forces with the support of the international coalition's aviation. During the massive bombardments and actions of the pro-US Kurdish formations, Raqqa was actually destroyed.

The US military illegally controls territories in the north and northeast of Syria in the provinces of Deir ez-Zor, Al-Hasakah and Raqqa, where the country's largest oil and gas fields are located. Damascus has repeatedly called the presence of the US military on its territory occupation and state piracy with the aim of outright theft of oil.

*Daesh (IS/ISIS/ISIL) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia.