Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10

WORLD NEWSTuesday 9 January 2018

Syrian troops capture 14 villages from rebels

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian gov- provinces, capturing nearly Abu Zuhour air base and villages, include Freija, Jah- meanwhile said its air base
ernment forces captured 100 villages from insurgent secure the road linking the man, Dawoudiyeh and Jub and naval station in west-
14 villages on Monday as groups, including the al- capital, Damascus, with al-Qasab, bring the troops ern Syria came under at
they advanced on the Qaida-linked Levant Lib- the northern city of Aleppo, closer to the air base. least 13 attempted attacks
largest rebel-held enclave eration Committee. The of- Syria’s largest. The SCMM and the oppo- by drones since Saturday.
in the country’s north amid fensive intensified on Christ- Rebels captured Abu sition’s Britain-based Syr- The ministry said three of
a wave of airstrikes. mas Day after reinforce- Zuhour in 2015 after a three- ian Observatory for Human the armed drones land-
Syrian government forces ments were brought in from year siege. Rights confirmed that 14 vil- ed outside the base and
and their allies have been other parts of Syria. The government-controlled lages have been captured others detonated when
on the offensive since late The main aim of the troops Syrian Central Military Me- over the past hours. they crashed, while seven
October in Hama and Idlib is to reach the rebel-held dia said the newly captured Russia’s Defense Ministry drones were shot down. q

Iran FM warns neighbors against fomenting unrest

Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during the Tehran Security Conference in chanted against the coun- issue. Zarif on Monday de-
Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. Iran’s foreign minister has warned neighboring countries over try’s supreme leader, Aya- picted the session as a fi-
fomenting insecurity in his country, a reference to anti-government protests that have roiled Iran tollah Ali Khamenei. asco, saying the Trump ad-
over the past two weeks. At least 21 people were ministration is “isolated at
killed and hundreds ar- the international level.”
(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) rested. Large pro-govern- The world “witnessed that
ment rallies were held in (all other) members of
By NASSER KARIMI lence that accompanied The anti-government dem- response. In the past few the U.N. Security Council
days, Iranian authorities spoke about preventing
Associated Press some of the protests on the onstrations first broke out in have said the protests are the meddling in Iran’s inter-
waning, and on Sunday, nal affairs,” he said. Iran’s
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s United States, Israel and Mashhad, Iran’s second- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard President Hassan Rouhani
claimed the nation and its meanwhile said that de-
foreign minister on Monday Saudi Arabia. “Some coun- largest city, on Dec. 28 and security forces had end- spite the exploitation of the
ed the unrest. The Guard protests by outsiders, au-
warned neighboring coun- tries tried to misuse the re- later spread to several oth- blamed the unrest on the thorities should listen to the
United States, Israel and demonstrators’ economic
tries against fomenting un- cent incidents,” Zarif said, er cities and towns. The pro- Saudi Arabia, as well as grievances. “People right-
an exiled opposition group fully say: ‘See us, listen to
rest after anti-government without naming them. “No tests were the largest seen known as the Mujahedeen- our words,’” Rouhani said.
e-Khalq, and supporters Rouhani, a relative moder-
protests roiled the country country can create a se- in Iran since the disputed of the monarchy that was ate, also argued against
overthrown in the 1979 Is- the permanent suspension
over the past two weeks. cure environment for itself 2009 presidential election. lamic Revolution. of social media applica-
Zarif also mentioned an tions that authorities had
The remarks by Moham- at the expense of creating They were sparked by a emergency session of the taken offline at the height
U.N. Security Council on of the protests, includ-
mad Javad Zarif at a secu- insecurity among its neigh- hike in food prices amid Friday. The United States ing the popular messag-
had called the meeting, ing app Telegram, which
rity conference in Tehran bors.” “Such efforts” will soaring unemployment portraying Iranian protests is used by an estimated
as a human rights issue that 40 million Iranians — half
echoed previous allega- only backfire, the official but some demonstrators could spill over into an in- the population.“You had
ternational problem. a good sleep while 40 mil-
tions by Iranian officials, IRNA news agency quoted later called for the gov- U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. lion people were in trou-
Nikki Haley said the session ble,” Rouhani said. “Some
who have blamed the vio- Zarif as saying. ernment’s overthrow and had put Iran on notice that 100,000 people have lost
“the world will be watch- their jobs over this past
ing” its actions, but envoys week” because of the
from several other coun- suspension of the apps,
tries expressed reservations he said, referring to their
about whether the council widespread use in online
was the right forum for the commerce.q

Egypt sets election for March, with outcome all but certain

By HAMZA HENDAWI on dissent. try or gone silent, while economy, which is slowly tivists, including many of
Associated Press El-Sissi has yet to formally authorities have blocked recovering after years of those behind the 2011 up-
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt will announce his candidacy, hundreds of websites and unrest. rising that toppled longtime
hold its presidential elec- but with less than three banned all unauthorized El-Sissi, a former general, led autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
tion over three days in months to go before the demonstrations. the military overthrow of an Human rights groups have
March, officials said Mon- vote, no candidate who El-Sissi has meanwhile elected but divisive Islamist been placed under draco-
day, with President Abdel- could pose a serious chal- drummed up support with president in 2013. Since nian restrictions, and sever-
Fattah el-Sissi virtually guar- lenge to him has emerged. official functions in which then, authorities have jailed al rights campaigners have
anteed to run for and win Nearly all prominent critics he touts new infrastructure thousands of critics, mainly been banned from foreign
a second four-year term of the government have projects and delivers an Islamists but also a number travel or had their assets
amid a heavy clampdown been jailed, left the coun- upbeat assessment of the of prominent secular ac- frozen. q