US-led airstrikes target greater Raqqa area

An internally displaced woman looks at her child resting on her lap at a refugee camp in Tawayneh, west of Raqqa. (Reuters)

BAGHDAD: At least 250 US-led airstrikes have pounded the Syrian city of Raqqa and surrounding territory in the past week, the coalition fighting Daesh said on Tuesday.
Coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said that the air raids targeted the greater Raqqa area.
Activists and monitoring groups have reported that intensifying coalition bombardment of the city has left scores of civilians dead.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 42 civilians had been killed in US-led strikes on Raqa on Monday, taking the civilian toll for the past eight days to 167.
Dillon said that the allegations would be taken seriously and investigated.
Since a US-backed offensive ousted Daesh from Mosul in Iraq in July, the coalition has had more available aircraft to strike Raqqa, he added.
"We have increased our strikes recently especially since the end of the Mosul battle," Dillon said.
Earlier this month, the coalition acknowledged the deaths of 624 civilians in its strikes in Syria and Iraq since 2014, but rights groups say the number is much higher.
The international alliance says it takes all possible measures to prevent unnecessary deaths.
"The avoidance of civilian casualties is our highest priority when conducting strikes against legitimate military targets with precision munitions, unlike the indiscriminate nature of ISIS tactics which result in an enormous number of avoidable civilian deaths," the coalition told AFP in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
In another development, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said Jordan had opened its first job center inside a refugee camp, unlocking work opportunities across the country for thousands living in the world’s largest Syrian refugee camp.
So far, more than 800 refugees in Zaatari camp in Jordan, which borders Syria and is home to nearly 80,000 people, have registered for work permits at the job center.
“Refugee workers now have a clear address to resort to when searching for jobs and applying for work permits, where they can receive all necessary information and benefit from expert support,” said Maha Kattaa, ILO response coordinator in Jordan, said in a statement.
The Jordanian government says the country is home to 1.4 million Syrians, of whom more than 660,000 are registered with the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Allowing refugees to work in host countries relieves pressure on social services, boosts the local economy, and gives refugees the financial security to reestablish their lives, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said, which manages work permits and the flows in and out of Zaatari camp.
“I am confident that having an increased number of Syrians entering the labor market will positively impact the local economy and bring stability to refugee families,” said Stefano Severe, a UNHCR spokesman in Jordan.
Earlier this month Jordan became the first Arab country to issue Syrian refugees with a new type of work permit that opens up the growing construction sector.
The center, launched by the Jordanian government, will run job fairs and employment matching services with businesses across the country.
There are also plans to open a second center in a nearby camp in Azraq, ILO said.