One Year After ISIS 'Defeat', Syria's Raqqa Still in Fear

A member of Raqqa's Internal Security Forces mans a checkpoint at the entrance of the Syrian city that was ruled by ISIS until a year ago | AFP
A member of Raqqa's Internal Security Forces mans a checkpoint at the entrance of the Syrian city that was ruled by ISIS until a year ago | AFP
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One Year After ISIS 'Defeat', Syria's Raqqa Still in Fear

A member of Raqqa's Internal Security Forces mans a checkpoint at the entrance of the Syrian city that was ruled by ISIS until a year ago | AFP
A member of Raqqa's Internal Security Forces mans a checkpoint at the entrance of the Syrian city that was ruled by ISIS until a year ago | AFP

A year after a US-backed alliance of Syrian fighters drove the ISIS terrorist group from the northern city of Raqqa, traumatized civilians still live in fear of near-daily bombings.

"Every day we wake up to the sound of an explosion," said resident Khaled al-Darwish.

"We're scared to send our children to school... there's no security," he added.

The hardliners' brutal rule in Raqqa was brought to an end in October 2017 after a months-long ground offensive by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces supported by air strikes from a US-led coalition.

But despite manning roadblocks at every street corner, the SDF and the city's newly created Internal Security Forces are struggling to stem infiltration by ISIS sleeper cells.

At Raqqa's entrance, soldiers verify drivers' identity papers and carefully sift through lorry cargoes.

Inside the city, there are regular foot patrols and armored vehicles sit at strategic points.

Women wearing the niqab are asked to show their faces to female security members before entering public buildings.

"If there wasn't fear about a return of ISIS, there wouldn't be this increased military presence," said Darwish, a father of two, speaking near the infamous Paradise Square.

It was here that ISIS carried out decapitations and other brutal punishments, earning the intersection a new name -- "the roundabout of hell".

While the nightmare of extremist rule may be gone, most of the city still lies in ruins and there are near-daily attacks on checkpoints and military vehicles, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Although a series of stinging defeats have cut ISIS's so-called caliphate down to desert hideouts, militants still manage to hit beyond the patches of ground they overtly control.

Some Raqqa residents say the city's new security forces lack the expertise to cope.

"We are exhausted. Every day we don't know if we will die in a bomb explosion or if we will go home safe and sound," said Abu Younes, sitting in his supermarket near a roundabout not far from Paradise Square.

"There is no security -- (the new security forces) on the roadblocks are not qualified and there is a lot of negligence," he complained.

"There are faults that enable ISIS to infiltrate the city easily and carry out attacks."

But despite the continued attacks, a semblance of normal life has returned to the city.

Shops have reopened and traffic has returned to major roads -- albeit choked by the impromptu checkpoints.

In a public garden, children climb up a multi-colored slide and onto dilapidated swings as their mothers sit on nearby benches carefully keeping watch.

They are set amidst an apocalyptic backdrop of twisted metal and splayed balconies -- the remnants of buildings torn apart by US-led coalition air raids.

Nearby, Ahmed al-Mohammed pauses as he listens to music on his phone. Like others, he does not hide his disquiet.

"We're scared because of the presence of ISIS members in the city," the 28-year-old said.

"The security forces need to tighten their grip."

Ahmed Khalaf, who commands Raqqa's Internal Security Forces, defended the work of his men and claimed successes against the jihadists.

He said patrols are highly organized and that a "joint operation cell" had recently been established with coalition forces to monitor the city's security.

"Recently we arrested four (extremists) -- it was a cell that took part in attacks that terrorized the city," said Khalaf, sporting plain green fatigues.

"We are continuing our investigation to uncover the other cells," he added.

"Daesh's goal is to destroy the country and to not let anyone live in safety," he said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Security and stability are what Najla al-Ahmed wants most for her children.

"The nightmare of ISIS follows us everywhere -- whenever we try to rest, explosions start up again," said the 36-year-old, as she shopped with her young ones.

"The war has worn us out. Us and our children. It has destroyed our future," she said.



Scotland Awaits Famous Son as Trump Visits Mother’s Homeland 

A general view of the Trump Turnberry hotel and golf resort in Turnberry, on the west coast of Scotland, on July 21, 2025. (AFP)
A general view of the Trump Turnberry hotel and golf resort in Turnberry, on the west coast of Scotland, on July 21, 2025. (AFP)
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Scotland Awaits Famous Son as Trump Visits Mother’s Homeland 

A general view of the Trump Turnberry hotel and golf resort in Turnberry, on the west coast of Scotland, on July 21, 2025. (AFP)
A general view of the Trump Turnberry hotel and golf resort in Turnberry, on the west coast of Scotland, on July 21, 2025. (AFP)

Donald Trump will fly into Scotland on Friday for a private visit to the land where his mother was born and spent her childhood on the remote Isle of Lewis.

"It's great to be home, this was the home of my mother," he said when he arrived on his last visit in 2023.

Born Mary Anne MacLeod, Trump's mum emigrated to the United States when she was 18. She then met and married Fred Trump, kickstarting the family's meteoric rise that has led their son, Donald, all the way to the White House.

During his visit the current US president, who is six months into his second term, plans to officially open his latest golf course in northeastern Aberdeen -- making him the owner of three such links in Scotland.

Although Donald Trump has talked openly about his father Fred -- a self-made millionaire and property developer whose own father emigrated from Germany -- he remains more discreet about his mother, who died in 2000 at the age of 88.

She was born in 1912 on Lewis, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides in northwest Scotland, and grew up in the small town of Tong.

Trump visited the humble family home in 2008, pausing for a photo in front of the two-storey house. He has cousins who still live in the house, which has been modernized since Mary Anne MacLeod's time but remains modest, standing just around 200 meters (650 feet) from the sea.

Its slate roof and grey walls are a world away from Trump's luxury Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, or his gold-adorned apartment in Trump Tower, New York.

According to the British press, which based its reports on local documents, Trump's grandfather was a fisherman.

MacLeod was the 10th and last child of the family, and her first language was Gaelic before she learnt English at school.

Life was tough on Lewis after World War I, which claimed the lives of many of the island's young men. Following in the footsteps of her older sister, and so many other Scots over the decades, she decided to emigrate to the United States.

MacLeod boarded the SS Transylvania from Glasgow in 1930, bound for New York.

- Pink Rolls-Royce -

On her immigration papers she wrote she was a "domestic" when asked about her profession. One of Trump's sisters recalled that MacLeod had worked as a nanny in a wealthy family.

But a few years later her life turned around when she reportedly met Fred Trump at an evening dance. They were married in 1936 in Manhattan's wealthy Upper East Side, and MacLeod became a US citizen in 1942.

As Fred Trump built and expanded his property empire in the city by constructing middle-class homes in districts such as Queens and Brooklyn, Mary Anne devoted herself to charitable works.

"Even in old age, rich and respected and with her hair arranged in a dynamic orange swirl, she would drive a rose-colored Rolls-Royce to collect coins from laundry machines in apartment blocks that belonged to the Trumps," the Times wrote this month.

Photos of her hobnobbing with New York high society show her with her blonde hair swept up in a bun, reminiscent of her son's distinctive side-swept coiffure.

She was "a great beauty", Donald Trump has gushed in one of his rare comments about his mother, adding she was also "one of the most honest and charitable people I have ever known".

And on X he has pointed to "great advice from my mother: 'Trust in God and be true to yourself'".

In 2018 then-British prime minister Theresa May presented Trump with his family tree tracing his Scottish ancestors.

Less than 20,000 people live on Lewis, and MacLeod is a common surname.

Residents tell how Mary Anne MacLeod regularly returned to her roots until her death, while one of the president's sisters won over the locals by making a large donation to a retirement home.

But Donald Trump has not impressed everyone in Scotland, and protests against his visit are planned on Saturday in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Earlier this year in April a banner fluttered from a shop in the port of Stornoway, the island's largest town. "Shame on you Donald John," it proclaimed.

Local authorities have asked for the banner to be taken down, but it is due to tour the island this summer with residents invited to sign it.