The deputy head of the international relations committee in the Syrian Parliament, Amar al Asad, told Sputnik that there are many reports suggesting that certain forces that are not from Raqqa now control the city.
“The international coalition and Daesh destroyed even trees and stones in the city, there is nothing left alive there. Today it is a city of ghosts. Part of the citizens has fled, while a lot of people have died,” the deputy said.
“The American plan in Syria is now at its last breath, after failure on the political and military front,” Al Asad said.
According to the deputy, the operation in Raqqa raises many questions, as it was a “theatrical production that was needed to raise the morale [of the opponents of the Syrian government] after the successes and advancement of the Syrian Army.”
Amar al-Assad also said that the main question arising from the liberation of Raqqa scenario is: "Where did the Daesh fighters who fought in the city go?"
In the wake of the liberation of Raqqa, many analysts have been wondering about the scale of US support to the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which headed the operation, and the number of military facilities the US has set up in northern Syria. The Kurds, however, have refused to reveal any details, although it was confirmed that the US has been supplying them with arms since the liberation of Kobani in 2015.
Meanwhile, Syria has called the US-led coalition’s report on Raqqa’s liberation “misleading” aimed at dividing the opinions of the international community regarding the crimes the coalition and its allies allegedly committed in Raqqa province, the SANA news agency reported Sunday citing an official source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry.
Damascus will continue to consider Raqqa an occupied city until it comes under the control of the Syrian Army, the news agency reported.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on October 20 that they had fully cleared Raqqa from Daesh with the support of the US. The US-led alliance confirmed this report a few hours later and President Donald Trump called the operation to free the city a "critical breakthrough" and claimed that a "transition into a new phase" would follow it.
