Syrian air strikes on IS 'capital' kill 63 civilians

BEIRUT: A wave of Syrian regime air strikes on the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed capital of Raqa, in the country's east, killed at least 63 civilians on Tuesday, a monitor said. "The death toll has risen to at least 36 in air raids on Raqa," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, updating its earlier toll of at least 23 killed. "Dozens more were wounded, some of them critically. We fear the death toll may rise further," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. The head of the Britain-based monitoring group said previously that "most of the casualties were caused by two consecutive air strikes" on Raqa's main industrial zone. "The first strike came, residents rushed to rescue the wounded, and then the second raid took place," said Abdel Rahman, whose group relies on a network of sources on the ground in Syria for its information.   AFP