‘Islamic State doesn’t have a fixed headquarters’

Regime warplanes bombed the IS-controlled city of a-Shadadi in the southern Al-Hasakah countryside Sunday in what residents are calling a ‘massacre’ that claimed the lives of 200 civilians.

Here, Hamad al-Asad, a former resident of a-Shadadi and spokesman for the Association of Syrian Refugees, talks to Mohammed al-Haj Ali about the circumstances of the bombing that targeted a popular market, and how IS managed to avoid losses among its fighters.

Q: How many dead and wounded from the recent bombing in a-Shadadi?

“The number of dead is 79, with 150 wounded. The number is rising because of a lack of medical resources and medical aid. One air raid targeted the city market, while three others targeted the street located behind the market.”

Q: Who helped out the victims, bearing in mind that IS controls the city?

“Residents transported the wounded to hospitals in al-Mayadeen, al-Hawl and A-Raqqa. The a-Shadadi hospital has poor medical capabilities, and was unable to absorb such a large number of wounded.”

Q: Were any IS fighters killed in the bombing?

“No IS fighters were documented as killed.”

Q: Why is that the case?

“Because IS doesn’t have a fixed headquarters. They use mobile checkpoints and cars that move from place to place. Some of their fixed locations were obvious but they since emptied them of fighters. “