Raqa

Kurds invited to join Syria peace

Raqa - Muslimchronicle

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a speech at Stanford University on Wednesday that U.S. troops in Syria—thought to currently number around 2,000—would be remaining there indefinitely, even after all of ISIS’s territory has been retaken. What exactly those troops will be doing is unclear—other than finding themselves in the middle of a new and unpredictable phase of the Syrian conflict,Read more

At beloved falafel shop, Syrians get taste of pre-war Raqa

Raqa - Muslimchronicle

Raqa is still mostly a sinister ghost town of gutted buildings and rubble-strewn streets but there is one place teeming with activity in the Syrian city: Ammar Qassab's falafel shop. "We reopened almost two weeks ago," the 33-year-old said, as one of his employees spooned balls of yellow chickpea mixture from a battered, bullet-pierced vat and dipped them in searing oil.Read more

Father Christmas returns to war-ravaged Raqa

Raqa - Muslimchronicle

Amid the grey ruins of Syria's devastated city of Raqa, three boys stopped and stared as two Father Christmases walked by with black sacks slung over their backs. The two men in red outfits and fake white beards rang their bells as they marched through the war-ravaged city on Tuesday, much to the disbelief of a dozen residents following them. Not sinceRead more

Displaced Syrians survive war but face battle

Raqa - Muslimchronicle

Khadija Alloush made it out alive from Syria's battle-ravaged Raqa with her five children, but she lost her seven-year-old son to the biting cold of life in a displacement camp. As temperatures drop, tens of thousands of civilians forced out of their homes by Syria's war are spending yet another winter in flimsy plastic tents or abandoned half-finished buildings. And withoutRead more

Lipstick, mixed dancing at first Raqa wedding since IS

Raqa - Muslimchronicle

At a house in Syria's Raqa, women and men danced together in celebration at a wedding that would have been unimaginable just months ago, when the Islamic State group ruled the city. Residents told AFP that Ahmad and Heba's wedding, held Friday in Raqa's western neighbourhood of Jazra, was the first in the city since US-backed forces seized it onRead more