RBSS
On the evening of June 24th, an armed group of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) managed to sneak into the northern Raqqa neighborhood of Rumela and settle in one of the neighborhood’s houses. As RBSS has reported previously, the city of Raqqa has had no drinking water since the beginning of battles to take the city. The only sources of water have been either from the river or from local wells.
On this evening, civilian Asa’ad Ahmed Zieno left his home with the intent of bringing water back from one of the neighborhood’s wells. On his way, Asa’ad saw the SDF militants and thought they were ISIS fighters, so he went back into his home. The armed group then proceeded to throw a grenade at the door of Asa’ad’s house. Asa’ad went out to see what was happening, so the armed group immediately shot and killed him. His father then also went out to see what was happening, and the group subsequently shot and killed him as well. The SDF militants video taped the crime – documenting the last moments of these victims.
The armed group fled the neighborhood after people nearby began to come out of their houses to see what was happening. However, later on, the SDF militants returned to the scene in order to kidnap Asa’ad’s son who had been injured earlier in an airstrike launched by the international coalition.
