French airstrikes are pounding Raqqa, but residents say it’s the indiscriminate Russian bombardment they fear most

Civilians in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa are scrambling for cover, as French and Russian airstrikes ramp up in response to the attacks on Paris. 

A Raqqa resident who uses the pseudonym Zaid Althabet sees danger everywhere.

"When the Russian planes come, no place in Raqqa is safe," says Althabet, with the activist media group Sound and Picture. "We feel that any second we may be dead."

We reached Althabet via Viber, and it wasn't possible to conclusively verify his location. Nevertheless, his story is compelling.

He says last week the Russian airstrikes killed three civilians in Raqqa. And he blames Russia for five non-combatants killed earlier in the month. Althabet laments that Raqqa residents are caught between ISIS and indiscriminate Russian bombs.

"Russia kills us by the sky, ISIS kills us on the ground," he says. 

Zaid admits some Raqqa teenagers have joined ISIS, some for the money, others because, as Althabet puts it, they've been "brainwashed."

And he says he's worried about criticizing the extremist group in front of his own children. 

"Maybe when they go outside of my home, one of the ISIS members on the streets maybe speak with them and ask him a question and maybe they will speak the information that they heard from me," he says. "It would really be a problem for me."     

Two of Althabet's colleagues with Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently were tracked down by ISIS and killed in their homes in southern Turkey last month. So he says he's taking extra precautions, like using an old model cell phone. He's also stopped smoking because ISIS forbids it. 

"I take a very high level of risk just to speak to you," Althabet adds. "But even if it's risky, I take that risk just to reach the voice of people from Raqqa to say we are against ISIS, we hate them. Please believe us." 

Althabet says sometimes he and other Raqqa residents feel desperate and worry that the fighting will never finish. But he's holding out hope that some day ISIS will leave Raqqa. 

"People of Raqqa really don't support ISIS," he says. "We hate them as much as everyone else."