#WorldatFive: No longer fought over by the forces that tore Syria, Raqqa has become an unlikely haven for families fleeing problems from all directions.
thetimes.co.uk/article/raqqa-…
thetimes.co.uk/article/raqqa-…
Paradise Square was once famous as the roundabout where Islamic State crucified and displayed the heads of its victims. Now it has a Nutella House café.
The café, newly built next to one of the bombsites that filled Raqqa four years ago, is just one symptom of the city’s stark change in fortunes. 
Today the city are packed, lined with new restaurants, and officials say its population has grown beyond its prewar numbers as Syrians flee violence and poverty elsewhere in the country to its relative security.
Much of Raqqa’s wreckage remains. There is still insecurity, but compared with the fighting going on in northwest and southern Syria, and the economic devastation in regime-held territory, Raqqa is starting to look safer.
“The economic situation at home is terrible,” said Juneya Sayyan, who has moved to Raqqa with her children from a village near Damascus, which is firmly under the control of the Assad regime. “My house was destroyed in the war. There is no work there, and prices are sky-high.”
Read the full story: thetimes.co.uk/article/raqqa-…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
