Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently

A US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters is poised to begin a new offensive in the Syrian city of Raqqa shortly, a commander has told the BBC. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been fighting so-called Islamic State (IS) militants in the group's former stronghold for nearly four months.

Food access in Syria's battle-torn Raqqa is now at "a critical turning point," aid organizations said on July 31, with markets shuttered and residents depending fully on their dwindling stockpiles.

The Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ) on April 13 called on the authorities to protect journalists after a Syrian reporter was gunned down in broad daylight by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Turkey's southeast, marking the fourth such incident in six months.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is the main suspect in the shooting of Syrian journalist Mohammad Zahar al-Shurgat, 36, who was shot and severely injured in Turkey's southeastern province of Gaziantep on April 10. 

Al-Shurgat, a journalist from pro-Free Syrian Army (FSA) Aleppo Today TV, was hospitalized and remains in critical condition.

A Syrian journalist from Syria's Aleppo, was shot and severely injured in Turkey's southeastern province of Gaziantep on April 10.  

A masked assailant shot Muhammed Zahir al-Sherkat, a 36-year-old Syrian citizen, in the head in Gaziantep's De?irmiçem neighborhood. 

The death toll from purported Russian airstrikes on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)-held city of Raqqa has climbed to at least 55, mostly civilians, Syrian opposition activists and ISIL said on March 20.

A Syrian journalist has escaped an assault in Turkey, months after his journalist brother and a colleague were killed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in southeastern ?anl?urfa province, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. 

A Syrian activist who produced documentaries hostile to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was assassinated in Turkey on Dec. 27, according to the group with which he worked, "Raqa is Being Slaughtered Silently."

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has claimed responsibility for last week's slaying of two Syrian journalists in Turkey's southeastern province of ?anl?urfa.

In a regime where rapes and forced marriages for child brides are considered legitimate and with a lack of female medical staff the health of women is at high risk, especially now that women’s clinics supervised by male doctors in Raqqa are shut down by ISIS.