Airstrikes in Raqqa as fight to oust Islamic State from Syria lair intensifies

Raqqa has been hit by fresh airstrikes as US-backed forces intensified the fight to remove Islamic State from their Syrian stronghold, according to activists.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not known how many people were injured in the blasts on Monday.

Around 38 people have been killed in the last three days as the city was rocked by airstrikes and artillery shelling, it added.

The Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) are pushing closer to IS' de facto capital and fighters have surrounded the city from the north, west and east.

It is feared jihadists will use residents as human shields when SDF forces enter the city, which has been held by IS since January 2014.

On Sunday, the US-led coalition dropped leaflets in Arabic, which warned residents it was their "last chance" to leave Raqqa.

Some leaflets gave instructions of how to leave the city, told residents to keep their plans secret from IS and to leave without any weapons and waving a white banner.

"Failing to leave could lead to death," one of the leaflets read. "Raqqa will fall. Don't be there when it happens."

The airstrikes in Raqqa come as the UN warns up to 200,000 civilians face a "very desperate situation" as Iraqi forces fight to recapture Mosul from IS.

Jihadists have lost the east of the city and large parts of the western side, but continue to put up resistance in the areas they still hold.

In recent weeks, an estimated 160,000 civilians have fled the city.

Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, said between 180,000 and 200,000 civilians remain in jihadist-held areas.

She said: "We understand that medicines are very scarce, that there are severe shortages of safe drinking water, that there are very limited stocks of food.

"We also are aware that families which try to escape are often targeted by snipers.

"You have an enclosed area, you have fighters which are determined to hold out, the civilians are in many ways trapped in that area, there haven't been resupplies into the Old City for months."