Local source: U.S.-backed SDF forcing children to loot houses in Raqqa

TEHRAN (FNA - June 10)- The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have started forcing children to take part in organized crime and robbery in Raqqa city.

The Washington-backed SDF has started using children from 7 to 14 years of age for stealing assets of civilians from houses in Raqqa.

A local source said that a number of children that had been arrested while stealing peoples' properties and possessions have disclosed that the SDF militias forced them to join the US-backed group at a base near Bimo Bank and forced them to participate in looting people's houses in Raqqa.

Damascus government said on Wednesday that the illegitimate US-led International Coalition was targeting civilians in the villages of Hasaka, Raqqa and Deir Ezzur as a retribution for their refusal to join US-allied separatist militias.

In a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General and President of the United Nations Security Council, Damascus lambasted the Coalition’s incessant aggressions targeting innocent Syrian civilians and Syria’s sovereignty, safety and territorial integrity.

Citing a slew of atrocities the Coalition perpetrated in the villages of al-Hasaka, which left scores of civilians dead and many others injured, the Foreign Ministry stressed that the attacks are intended to punish the locals for their reluctance to join separatist militias allied to the United States.

According to the letter, the US has been restructuring relations with ISIL terrorists, integrating some within these militias and using others in mounting attacks against the Syrian Arab Army’s sites with a view to recapturing areas the Syrian army and allies have liberated from terrorism.

The letter added that the Coalition had not balked at providing overt military backing to ISIL terrorists against the Syrian army, the latest of which was on May 24 when its warplanes targeted military outposts for the Syrian army between Albu Kamal and Humeimeh in Deir Ezzur countryside 24 hours after the Syrian army managed to abort ISIL attack against the sites.

The Coalition’s sole aim is to undermine Syria’s sovereignty, safety and territorial integrity and prolong the crisis in it which contravenes the UN Security Council’s resolutions, the letter noted.

The Ministry urged the Coalition’s member country to pull out of this “outrageous coalition”, calling on the UNSC to assume its responsibilities in preserving international peace and security and take immediate action to end its massacres.

The letter also called for terminating the illegal US and foreign presence on the Syrian territories and to call a halt to the US plans in support of terrorism.

“The US hostile polices in Syria, the region and the world lack ethical grounds because it has become part and parcel of the threats which endanger international peace and security,” the letter concluded.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be ISIL targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

[END REPORT]

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