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WORLD NEWS Monday 16 october 2017
US-allied forces begin final assault on IS in Syria’s Raqqa

The operation was named said Syrian IS fighters and
after Adnan Abu Amjad, civilians would be allowed
an Arab commander with to leave Raqqa, but not
the SDF who was killed foreign fighters.
in August while fighting The evacuation appeared
against IS in central Raqqa. aimed at sparing the lives
The loss of Raqqa would of civilians being used as
hand another major blow human shields. As of last
to IS, which has lost most of week, around 4,000 civil-
the territory it once held in ians were believed to still
Syria and Iraq. be in the city.
Iraqi forces captured the Omar Alloush, a senior
northern Iraqi city of Mosul member of the Raqqa Civil
— the largest ever held by Council, said the 275 fight-
the extremist group — in ers have been detained
July, and Syrian govern- and are being interrogated
ment forces retook the to determine who should
eastern Syrian city of Maya- be referred to legal authori-
deen, near the border with ties.
Iraq, on Saturday. The activist-run Raqqa is Be-

This frame grab shows U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters, left, stand next of IS still holds parts of Syria’s ing Slaughtered Silently net-
Syrian civilians who fled from the areas that still controlled by the Islamic State militants, in Raqqa, Deir el-Zour province and work said the SDF took the
Syria. Iraq’s Anbar province, as detainees to Hawi al-Hawa
(Mezopotamya Agency, via AP) well as small, scattered prison west of Raqqa. It
By BASSEM MROUE eration will continue “until to the SDF and opposition pockets elsewhere. said the prison is being run
Associated Press all the city is cleansed from activists. On Saturday, the U.S.-led by the intelligence arm of
BEIRUT (AP) — U.S.-backed terrorists who refused to sur- coalition and local officials the SDF.q
Syrian fighters launched render.”
an operation to retake The SDF has been on the
the last Islamic State-held offensive in Raqqa since
pocket of the northern city early June and now con-
of Raqqa on Sunday af- trols about 90 percent of
ter some 275 militants and the city that was once the
their family members sur- extremist group’s self-styled
rendered. capital. Most of the fighters
The Kurdish-led Syrian Dem- who remain in the pocket
ocratic Forces said the op- are foreigners, according

Iraqi Kurds charge border

crossings with Iran closed

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi Kirkuk region, as well as to
Kurdish media accused demand recognition of a
Iran on Sunday of closing symbolic vote for indepen-
most of its border with the dence held last month.
Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish Iran’s Foreign Ministry said
region as its leaders met to there has been no change
discuss rocky relations with to the status of the border.
Baghdad, to pressure them But Iraq’s Foreign Ministry
into making concessions to said in a statement that Iran
the central government. was honoring Baghdad’s
Rudaw news agency, quot- request to close the cross-
ing the Kurdish region’s cus- ings. Iran and neighboring
toms chief, Samal Abdul- Turkey also denounced the
rahman, said Iran closed all Kurdish referendum.
three official crossings with They agreed to deliver a
the autonomous region, message to Prime Minister
while leaving one semi- Haidar Abadi in Baghdad
official crossing open. The offering to share adminis-
Kurdish police commander tration over parts of Kirkuk
at the Bashmakh crossing, with Kurdish elements of
Awet Jamal, confirmed to Iraq’s formal army, ac-
The Associated Press his cording to Sarteep Jawhar,
crossing has been closed. a Kurdish journalist close
It came as Iraq’s divided to the PUK. They refused,
Kurdish leadership met in however, to share adminis-
Dokan to break a weeks- tration with the state-sanc-
long stalemate with Bagh- tioned Popular Mobilization
dad over the administra- Front militias, which are
tion of the country’s oil-rich close to Iran.q