Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 9 March 2018
Syria aid convoy on hold, top UN official appeals for calm

By ZEINA KARAM ently wounded person.
BASSEM MROUE The government forces
BEIRUT (AP) — A top U.N. advanced from the east
aid official appealed to the and were only about a
Syrian government and its mile away from linking with
Russian backers for a ces- forces on the western side
sation of hostilities in east- of eastern Ghouta. The
ern Ghouta on Thursday military gains have caused
when a second convoy wide-scale internal dis-
with desperately needed placement as civilians flee
aid was postponed after government advances to-
government forces split the ward areas in the territory
enclave in two, creating still held by the rebels.
an evolving, unpredictable The most densely popu-
situation on the ground. lated areas in eastern Gh-
Jan Egeland said it is "im- outa are still under rebel
possible" to deliver aid to control, including the towns
the rebel-held eastern sub- of Douma, Harasta, Kfar
urbs of Damascus amid Batna, Saqba and Ham-
the current fighting, which mouriyeh. As government
he described as the worst troops bombed their way
ever. into the town of Beit Sawa
"I'm very worried for a re- This photo released by the Syrian Red Crescent shows a convoy of vehicles of the Syrian Red Cres- on Wednesday, many ter-
peat of very many of the cent arriving to Douma, eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, Syria. rorized civilians fled east to
bad things we saw in the (Syrian Red Crescent via AP) the towns of Arbeen and
final days of the battle of Hammouriyeh. “The fact is
Aleppo but to some extent opposition was ousted from people have been killed civilians trapped inside, we have seen possibly the
this is worse," he told The eastern Aleppo in late 2016 just in the past three weeks. state media and a war worst fighting ever in east-
Associated Press in an inter- after a similar siege and In rapid advances over- monitor reported. ern Ghouta in these last 24
view from Oslo, Norway. bombing campaign. night, troops and allied mi- Videos released by the op- hours and in that kind of
Recapturing eastern Ghou- Eastern Ghouta is larger litiamen seized more than position's volunteer rescue situation you cannot deliv-
ta, a short drive away from and more populated, with half of the area, including a group, also known as the er anything,” Egeland said.
the Syrian capital, would some 400,000 people be- stretch of farmland, isolat- White Helmets, captured “It is impossible to cross into
mark the biggest victory yet lieved to be living there, ing the northern and south- the inferno in eastern Gh- the frontline and to go in
for President Bashar Assad trapped under a relentless ern parts of the territory, outa, including a shell ex- to help desperate civilians,
in the seven year war. It air and ground bombard- cutting links between the ploding as an ambulance women and children that
would also be the worst ment and a crippling years- rebels and further squeez- sped through the street we know are on the starva-
setback for rebels since the long siege. More than 800 ing opposition fighters and after loading in an appar- tion point.”q

Israel, US troops train to counter threats

By JOSEF FEDERMAN leader Saddam Hussein rael intercepted an Iranian
HATZOR AIR BASE, Israel bombarded the country drone launched from Syria
(AP) — If war breaks out in with 39 Scud missiles during during a clash that caused
the Middle East, U.S. and the 1991 Gulf War. an Israeli F-16 warplane to
Israeli forces are preparing Today, the threat is far more crash, and Israel shot down
to one day fight alongside formidable. The Lebanese a Syrian anti-aircraft missile
one another to defend Is- militant group Hezbollah last year.
rael against missile attacks is now believed to possess Haimovich said Juniper Co-
from across the region. well over 100,000 rockets bra is not aimed at any par-
Nearly 5,000 Israeli and and missiles capable of ticular adversary. Instead, it
American troops have striking virtually anywhere is meant to simulate "very
been training together in in Israel. complex scenarios" that in-
Israel for that very scenario. Hezbollah and Iranian forc- clude simultaneous attacks
The "Juniper Cobra" exer- es are also active in neigh- from enemy countries and
cise includes field training, boring Syria, backing Presi- militant groups.
computer simulations and dent Bashar Assad. Gaza's "We practice that because
live-fire drills of sophisticat- Hamas rulers have a vast this is a real scenario," he
ed missile-defense systems. arsenal of rockets, and Iran said. He said the threats in-
"We will practice, train has developed long-range clude multiple salvos, more
shoulder to shoulder, the missiles that can reach Is- accurate rockets and mis-
same as we will fight in cri- rael. These threats are con- siles and a "multidirectional
sis times," Brig. Gen. Zvika crete. Hezbollah rained threat." "Those are our main
Haimovich, chief of Israel's some 4,000 rockets into assumptions," he said. "It
air defense command, told Israel during a monthlong doesn't matter if it's from
reporters at a briefing at war in 2006, while Hamas south, north, east or others."
the dusty Hatzor air base in and other militant groups in Israel, in cooperation with
southern Israel. Gaza have fired thousands the U.S., has developed a
Israel has made missile de- of rockets into Israel from multilayer system of missile
fense a priority since Iraqi the south. Last month, Is- defense. q