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Syrian Warplanes Bomb Raqqa

March 06, 2013

Syrian jets have bombed Raqqa, a day after opposition fighters took control of the northern town and captured its provincial governor.

A Syrian government official in Damascus told the AP on March 5 that the Syrian army raided "terrorist groupings" in Raqqa, causing many casualties.

The rebels continued to battle pockets of government troops in Raqqa, struggling to crush the remaining resistance in the city of 500,000 people on the Euphrates River.

Iraq's Interior Ministry, meanwhile, said its border troops repelled attempts by a group of gunmen trying to cross from Syria into Anbar province.

In Washington, General James Mattis, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command cast doubts on arming the rebels, telling a Senate hearing "we don't want to inadvertently, with the best of intentions, arm people who are basically sworn enemies."

Based on AP and Reuters reporting

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/syria-/24920476.html

Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.