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A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 16 OctOber 2019
Foreigners exit northeastern Syria fearing government reach

Associated Press the international com-
SEMELKA, Syria (AP) — It munity. Its administration
was a sign of the sudden of Semelka, the territory's
transformation sweeping only crossing to the outside
Kurdish-run northeast Syria: world, was informal.
foreign aid workers and "This is our nightmare sce-
journalists packed this bor- nario," said Made Fergu-
der crossing on Monday, son, Mercy Corps' deputy
rushing to get out to Iraq. country director for Syria,
The exodus was not pro- which had to pull its inter-
pelled by the Turkish offen- national staff out of north-
sive launched last week. eastern Syria.
Instead, it was the return of "There are tens of thou-
Syria's central government sands of people on the
to the region, where Kurd- run and we have no way
ish administrators have had of getting to them. We've
virtual self-rule for years. had to pull our international
The rush to leave reflected staff out of northeast Syria.
the sudden and dramatic We just cannot effectively
nosedive of the aspirations operate with the heavy
of Syria's Kurdish minority for shelling, roads closing, and
autonomy. The Kurdish-led the various and constantly
administration itself invited changing armed actors
Syrian government troops in the areas where we are
to the area to defend People pass a giant banner with a portrait of jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, working."
against the Turkish assault Abdullah Ocalan, center, with other portraits of killed Kurdish fighters, set at the border crossing The U.S-based group
after the U.S. abandoned between Iraq and Syria's Kurdish-held, in Semelka, northeast Syria, Monday Oct. 14, 2019. warned that the humani-
them and began pulling its Associated Press tarian crisis is set to worsen.
soldiers out. Already the fighting has
Foreigners who had en- cial gateway was empty — security web. sources and millions of dol- displaced nearly 130,000
tered "Rojava" —as the one pick-up with sheep in The Kurds set up their ad- lars in foreign aid, the Kurd- Syrians.
Kurds call their region— the back stood in the park- ministration in the northeast ish-led administration set up An international aid work-
now woke up to uncer- ing lot. Dozens of Syrians after the Syrian government functioning institutions and er at the border crossing
tainty over who would waited to cross into Iraq. pulled out its troops seven has pushed ahead with re- Monday said nearly all
be in charge. If back with Though few organizations years ago to fight rebels construction and develop- 250 foreign aid workers in
Damascus in control, they made official announce- elsewhere at the height of ment after the devastation northeast Syria, operat-
would effectively be in the ments, it appeared almost the civil war. When Islamic of the war on IS. Aid work- ing with dozens of groups,
country illegally. all foreigners working for State militants swarmed ers, construction firms and were leaving. De-miners
The departing foreigners aid groups were leaving. their areas, the Kurds allied contractors were drawn to also pulled out. The worker
were the main activity at Dozens of foreign journalists with the United States to the area. Even exiled Kurds spoke on condition of ano-
the Semelka crossing Mon- covering the offensive also fight them. returned. nymity because most orga-
day. The truck lane of the pulled out, fearing getting With oil resources recap- But Rojava was never rec- nizations were not making
usually bustling commer- caught in the government's tured from IS, water re- ognized by Damascus or their moves public.q

Wildfires spread through parts of Lebanon, Syria

intensified the fires that be- Defense Minister Elias Bou airport with no money to
gan a day earlier in mostly Saab said during a visit to maintain them.
pine forests around the Cyprus. As the fires raged overnight,
country and three prov- Lebanon's Prime Minister a correspondent burst into
inces in neighboring Syria. Saad Hariri said if the fires tears while live on TV, say-
There were no reports of turn out to be intentional ing she could hear people
fatalities from the fires — those behind it "will pay a scream for help inside their
among the worst to hit Leb- price." Hariri added that homes but no one could
anon in years. an investigation will be reach them.
Fire crews were over- opened to know what Interior Minister Raya El Has-
whelmed by the flames caused the fires. san said Greece would
in the Mount Lebanon re- In Damour, a coastal vil- send two aircraft in re-
gion early Tuesday, forc- lage south of Beirut, more sponse to a request from
ing the Interior Ministry to than a dozen charred cars Lebanon, adding that Jor-
A Lebanese fireman extinguishes a fire near Beirut, Lebanon,
Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. send riot police with en- w on the side of a road. dan has also expressed
Associated Press gines equipped with water Most of the homes nearby readiness to send assis-
cannons to help. Two small escaped the damage. tance to Beirut.
By HASSAN AMMAR in the middle of the night, aircraft were sent from the The state has been widely In neighboring Syria, fires
Associated Press while others were stuck in- nearby Mediterranean is- criticized by residents be- spread in the coastal prov-
DAMOUR, Lebanon (AP) side as the flames reached land of Cyprus to help put cause Lebanon bought inces of Latakia and Tartus,
— Wildfires spread through villages south of Beirut, au- out the flames. three aircraft several years as well as the central prov-
parts of Lebanon on Tues- thorities said. "Your planes are now fight- ago to be used in extin- ince of Homs, but authori-
day after forcing some resi- A heat wave in the region ing fires in Lebanon as we guishing fires but they have ties there brought all the
dents to flee their homes coupled with strong winds speak here," Lebanon's been parked at Beirut's fires under control.q