Raqqa, a city in north-east Syria, has been under full control of the Islamic State (IS) group for a year as of Monday.
During the last year, Raqqa has become the IS main stronghold and base of operations after they seized it from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government forces in January 2014, following a protracted battle in which thousands of civilians are thought to have been killed.
But while IS managed to drive government forces from the city, the situation in Raqqa remains extremely precarious with the humanitarian situation worsening and US-led coalition airstrikes, and bombardment by Assad’s forces, continuing to exact a heavy toll.
“The city is suffering from poverty and disease,” Abu Ibrahim Raqqawi, founder of activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (RIBSS), told the Guardian in a recent interview.
“A big problem is that all the prices inside the city have become very expensive especially after the coalition airstrikes. There is no electricity, everyone is dependent totally on the generators.”
The city has been the target of bombings by both the US-led coalition and the Assad government. The resulting civilian deaths, as well as the lack of response by IS, has further heightened tensions in the city.
“When coalition air strikes destroyed the oil refineries inside the city, prices grew threefold,” said Raqqawi. “The money that the people have is not enough to buy food, which has become very expensive.”
According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), a UK-based pro-Syrian opposition organisation, government forces claimed the lives of more than 1,495 civilians in the city between March 2011 and the IS takeover in January 2014.
Though some Syrians welcomed the defeat of Assad's forces, Raqqawi warned of increasing resentment at the disparity in lifestyles between regular Syrians in Raqqa and the IS rulers, who make millions of dollars from black market oil sales.
“ISIS (IS) does nothing for residents or refugees,” Raqqawi said, in a Q&A session on the RIBSS website on Saturday. “The only thing working in Ar-Raqqa for displaced civilians is the Raqqa Relief Kitchen operated by a local pharmacist.”