Civilians flee Raqa 'hell'

In a muddy camp in northern Syria, civilians who fled Raqa said fear of an expected US-backed assault on the Islamic State group bastion was reaching a fever pitch.

This week, hundreds of civilians escaped Raqa and headed north to the camp in Ain Issa, in territory controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance.

As part of their campaign to capture Raqa, the Syrian heart of the jihadists' so-called "caliphate", the SDF have been bearing down on the IS-held Tabqa Dam over the past 10 days.

Rumours that Syria's biggest dam would collapse and flood Raqa, 55 kilometres downstream, have sparked panic in the city.

"The hisbah (religious police) announced over the megaphones 'the land of Muslims will be flooded, the Tabqa dam has collapsed,'" said Mohammad Mahmoud, 38.

Mahmoud, his brother and both their families paid $1,000 to a smuggler and fled Raqa on foot earlier this week, reported AFP.

"I was so afraid, I couldn't think straight," he said. The camp where he has found shelter is home to several thousand Syrians displaced by war, including 400 families who arrived this week from Raqa.

Children waddled through makeshift pathways between tents emblazoned with the logo of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), clutching sandwiches and water bottles.

Inside tents, men waited for their turn to have their IS-mandated beards shaved then examined their bare chins in a small mirror.

Mahmoud's face was weighed down by exhaustion, his clothes covered in dust.

He hovered protectively around his elderly mother who sat in a wheelchair, its wheels caked in mud after their arduous 14-hour trek out of Raqa.

JETS HIT REBEL OUTPOST

Jets believed to be Russian hit an outpost run by moderate rebel forces in northwestern Syria near a major border crossing with Turkey, killing at least one fighter and wounding several people, two rebel sources said yesterday.

They said several raids overnight hit Babeska, a village in Idlib province that has become a haven for several moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups, mainly Jaish al Islam, a major insurgent group that controls the last major rebel stronghold on the doorstep of the Syrian capital, reported Reuters.

Jaish al Islam is a signatory to a fragile ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey at the end of last year.