https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2551-5276
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ABSTRACT
Throughout the Syrian conflict, Raqqa has suffered untold losses, especially after being claimed as the capital of the so-called Islamic State. Damage to Raqqa's built cultural heritage, a component of the human right to identity and culture, is one small aspect of the city's humanitarian crisis. Raqqa's Abbasid-era wall encircling the city's historic core, a UNESCO tentative world heritage site, was the frontline in the battle for the city in the summer of 2017. This paper seeks to establish the extent of visible United States (US)-led Coalition airstrike damage to Raqqa's historic city wall through a time-series analysis of commercially available high-resolution satellite imagery. Much has been published on damage to cultural heritage in Syria, yet little has focused on damage specifically caused by US-led Coalition airstrikes. When compared with other parts of Raqqa, this paper assesses that the city wall did not suffer the same degree of airstrike damage as did its surroundings, suggesting that effort was made by the US-led Coalition to minimize damage to this heritage site. This paper considers international treaty obligations under the 1954 Hague Convention and recent US policy shifts in light of the results of this assessment.
Acknowledgments
This article was made possible by post-doctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum Conservation Institute and Jessica S. Johnson. This article is dedicated to friends and colleagues in Raqqa who shared their beautiful city with me in 2009 and 2010.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Geolocation Information
Raqqa, Syria
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Katharyn Hanson
Katharyn Hanson is a Smithsonian Secretary's Scholar and a Cultural Heritage Preservation Scholar at the Museum Conservation Institute (MCI). She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Previously she held a visiting research position with the Geospatial Technologies Team at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and MCI. She directs archaeological site preservation training at the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage in Erbil, Iraq and serves on the Board of The Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TARII). She has been involved in various archaeological fieldwork projects for over 25 years and has curated museum exhibits and published on damage to ancient sites in Iraq and Syria.