Raqqah Dispatch
Notes and photographs from a recent trip to the city
Last week I visited Raqqah for about four days, tagging along with some friends who had spent significant amounts of time in the city over the last eight years. We met with a number of their acquaintances in local civil society including activists and a few tribal notables, many of whom had remained in Raqqah during periods of both Islamic State and SDF control. Conversations tended to revolve around three main topics: life under the Autonomous Administration, the events surrounding the end of SDF rule on January 18th, and the shape of the new local government currently being constructed by Damascus. While there are plenty of conflicting narratives regarding the details, the overall sense one gets is that the Autonomous Administration lost any sense of local legitimacy it possessed upon the 2017 defeat of IS in Raqqah. While there are many concerns regarding the nature of the new government there is a palpable sense of relief and joy that Raqqah has returned to rule from Damascus.
