Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 8 March 2018

Saudi prince says Qatar won’t be barred from Arab summit

By HAMZA HENDAWI June, accusing the tiny but "We will not accept any day in the Al-Shorouk news- Iran, Turkey and militant
CAIRO (AP) — Qatar will super-rich Gulf state of sup- resolutions to the crisis (with paper. He said the crisis groups as the "contempo-
not be barred from an porting militant groups and Qatar) outside an Arab or with Qatar "could last for a rary triangle of evil."
Arab summit in Riyadh later cozying up to Shiite, non- a Gulf framework, but that long time," comparing it to He said the Muslim Broth-
this month, but the stand- Arab Iran. Qatar has long does not mean we will bar the United States' decades- erhood, an Islamist group
off between Doha and a denied funding extremists, Qatar from attending the long embargo on Cuba. declared a terrorist orga-
Saudi-led, four-nation al- though it supports Islamist upcoming Arab summit," Saudi Arabia sealed Qa- nization by Egypt and out-
liance could last a "long opposition movements said Crown Prince Moham- tar's only land border last lawed in most Gulf Arab
time," Saudi Arabia's crown that are considered terrorist med bin Salman, who flew June, and the four nations states, had taken advan-
prince said in comments groups by other countries in to London Tuesday night at have cut off air and sea tage of democratic elec-
published Wednesday. the region. It has long had the end of a three-day visit access, forcing Qatar to tions. He said Turkey, which
Saudi Arabia, the United warm ties with Iran, with to Egypt. His comments, divert flights over Iran and supports the Brotherhood,
Arab Emirates, Bahrain and which it shares a massive made to Egyptian editors, transit goods through other was trying to resurrect the
Egypt cut ties with Qatar in undersea gas field. were published Wednes- ports. The prince described Ottoman Empire.q

Reports: Syrian troops split rebel-held enclave near capital

By PHILIP ISSA the enclave. The Syrian Ob-
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian gov- servatory for Human Rights
ernment forces seized vast said that by nightfall, Syrian
swaths of territory including government troops and al-
farmland in the opposition- lied militias had seized half
held suburbs of Damascus of the territory held by reb-
on Wednesday, effectively els in eastern Ghouta and
dividing the besieged en- split the enclave in two
clave in two and further halves — a north and south-
squeezing rebels and tens ern part. By slicing the terri-
of thousands of civilians tory, the Syrian government
trapped inside, state me- succeeds in further squeez-
dia and a war monitor re- ing rebels, making it more
ported. difficult for them to contin-
The government, deter- ue to hang on to the territo-
mined to wrest the eastern ry. Rebel spokesman Wael
Ghouta suburbs from the Olwan dismissed the offer
control of rebels after seven on Tuesday, saying it was
years of war, has resorted “psychological warfare.”
to extreme levels of shell- Olwan said Wednesday
ing and bombardment to that rebels had plugged
clear the way for its troops their defensive lines after
to advance on the ground. This photo shows a member of the Syrian Civil Defense group helping a man who was wounded they crumbled in the early
Hundreds have been killed after airstrikes and shelling hit in Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, March 7, 2018. days of the assault. The op-
in the past two weeks, in- (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP) position generally rejects
cluding dozens reported evacuation agreements,
Wednesday. of the hospitals in eastern pendently confirmed. The of smoke rising above the saying they amount to de-
Doctors and residents re- Ghouta, said that staff was government has repeat- town as explosions and mographic engineering
ported intense shelling and overwhelmed with chlo- edly denied using chlorine rockets could be heard — a tactic through which
cases of suffocation and rine odor and that he had gas. flying overhead. Syria's the government forcibly
difficulty breathing, accus- treated 29 children with dif- Earlier on Wednesday, the Central Military Media said displaces its opponents.
ing the government of us- ficulties breathing. state-affiliated al-Ikhbari- troops took control of the It said the plane did not
ing chlorine gas Wednes- Such reports, which have ya TV station broadcast town of Beit Sawa and most come under fire and that
day night. Hamza Hassan, been recurrent in the past live shots from the region, of Misraba, both rebel-held the crash was likely caused
a surgeon working at one weeks, could not be inde- showing dense columns communities in the heart of by a technical failure. q

Arab FMs affirm Jerusalem as future Palestinian capital

By SAMY MAGDY League member-states. to the United Nation Se- eral mechanism” to assist said Arab League chief
CAIRO (AP) — Arab for- It came amid a wave of curity Council in February the two parties in resolving Ahmed Aboul-Gheit in a
eign ministers insisted on anger at U.S. President and his call for an interna- all final status issues and televised press conference.
Wednesday that Jerusa- Donald Trump’s decision tional peace conference implementing them within Trump’s declaration de-
lem must be the capital of in December to recognize by mid-2018 with the key a set time frame. “The Arab parted from decades of
a future Palestinian state, Jerusalem as Israel’s capi- goals of full U.N. member- league has already de- U.S. policy and upended
even as the U.S. prepares tal and move the embassy ship for the state of Pales- cided to stand against the longstanding international
to move its embassy there there, sparking protests in tine and a timeframe for a negative consequences of assurances that the fate
in a step that has angered the West Bank and Gaza two-state solution. The plan the American dangerous of the city would be deter-
the Arab world. Strip at the time. In their fi- calls for mutual recognition and illegal decision of mov- mined in negotiations.
A ministerial meeting held nal statement, the ministers by the states of Israel and ing the U.S. embassy from Most countries around the
in the Egyptian capital Cai- endorsed a peace plan Palestine based on 1967 Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and world have not recognized
ro brought together foreign presented by Palestinian borders, and formation of recognizing the occupied Israel’s 1967 annexation of
ministers from the Arab President Mahmoud Abbas “an international multilat- city as a capital of Israel,” east Jerusalem. q