Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 3 augusT 2017
Netanyahu steps in to stop brawl of Israeli, Jordanian MP

By ILAN BEN ZION fight — or at least a shout- both sides reflects height- There has also been wide- provocative politicians,
Associated Press ing match. ened diplomatic tensions spread anger in Jordan had quarreled publicly in
JERUSALEM (AP) — It had Israel’s Oren Hazan and between Israel and Jor- over last month’s deadly recent days, exchanging
all the ingredients of a po- Jordan’s Yehiya al-Saoud dan over the escalation shooting in which an Israeli barbs through media state-
litical brawl: a Jordanian were each already on their around a contested Jeru- Embassy guard killed two ments.
and an Israeli lawmaker, way to the border crossing salem shrine and over last Jordanians, including a Al-Saoud challenged Ha-
both known for attention- on Allenby Bridge on the month’s deadly shooting at 16-year-old. zan to a faceoff at the Al-
seeking bluster, challenged River Jordan when Israeli the Israeli Embassy in Am- Authorities said the guard lenby Bridge crossing after
each other to a showdown Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- man. opened fire after the teen the Israeli berated Jordan,
Wednesday on the border tanyahu ordered the Israeli Israel and Jordan signed a attacked him with a screw- claiming Israel always “pro-
between their two coun- lawmaker to stand down. peace treaty in 1994, but driver during a furniture de- tects their posterior, day
tries. The showdown was avert- ties are often strained over livery. and night. They need a lit-
Everyone expected a fist ed but the hyperbole from Israeli-Palestinian flare-ups. Hazan and al-Saoud, both tle re-education.”q
7,000 Syrian refugees and fighters return home from Lebanon

gees and gunmen, includ- gunmen could be seen in-
ing a top al-Qaida opera- side the buses on the road
tive in Syria known as Abu that was decorated with
Malek al-Talli, were aboard Lebanese flags and yellow
the 113 buses the left Leba- Hezbollah banners.
non’s Arsal region toward Hezbollah combatants
the Syrian border village of have been fighting along
Fleeta, according to the Syrian President Bashar
government-controlled Syr- Assad’s forces since 2013,
ian Central Military Media. and the Iran-backed group
The militants and civilians is still deeply involved in Syr-
final destination will be the ia’s civil war, now in its sev-
jihadi-held part of north- enth year. The evacuation
western Syria, according deal followed a military of-
to an agreement between fensive by Hezbollah fight-
Lebanon, Syria, Hezbollah, ers and Syrian troops dur-
and Syria’s al-Qaida affili- ing which they captured
ate. That group is known as border areas between the
the Hay’at Tahrir al Sham two countries and left hun-
militant alliance — Arabic dreds of al-Qaida fighters
This frame grab from a video released on Wednesday, Aug 2, 2017 and provided by the govern-
ment-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows three Hezbollah fighters who were captured for the Levant Liberation besieged in a small rugged
by al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria speak while sitting in a vehicle after their arrival in the Lebanese Committee — or HTS. mountainous area.
village of Labweh near the Syrian border following their release. A new phase of exchange be- “The Nusra Front was de- The fighting ended with
tween Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and al-Qaida’s branch in Syria has begun in what would lead feated in Lebanon,” said a cease-fire on July 27 for
thousands of Syrian refugees to go back to their country. the announcer of Hezbol- negotiations to allow refu-
(Syrian Central Military Media, via AP) lah’s Al-Manar TV, using the gees, fighters, and family
old name of al-Qaida’s af- members leave to Syria’s
By BASSEM MROUE was the last phase of an ers stormed the Lebanese filiate in Syria. northwest Idlib province
Associated Press exchange deal between border town of Arsal and The long line of buses drove and the central Qalamoun
BEIRUT (AP) — More than Syria’s al-Qaida branch captured two dozen sol- through the partially paved region. The three Hezbol-
a hundred buses carrying and Lebanon’s militant He- diers, killing some in cap- mountain road between lah fighters were released
thousands of al-Qaida- zbollah group. tivity and releasing others. the two countries as Hez- shortly after midnight
linked fighters and Syrian The departure of al-Qaida The group’s presence in bollah fighters in beige uni- Wednesday by HTS in re-
refugees drove down a dirt fighters from the Lebanon- Lebanon has left scores of forms and carrying Kalash- turn for the release of three
road from Lebanon into Syr- Syria border comes three people dead. nikov assault rifles watched al-Qaida fighters who were
ia on Wednesday, in what years to the day its fight- More than 7,000 Syrian refu- them drive by. Masked held in Lebanon.q

Journalists lightly wounded in IS blast in Syria’s Raqqa

BEIRUT (AP) — A car bomb gan on June 6. The Kurdish- neighborhood of Mishleb from,” Othman told The As- past.
detonated by the Islamic led group now controls half outside a house used as a sociated Press in a voice In 2015, the group behead-
State group lightly wound- of the city. The extremists press center. The neighbor- message. ed Japanese journalist Ken-
ed several journalists in have been using suicide hood was captured by the Khalil, the Kurdish official, ji Goto. A year earlier they
the northern Syrian city of car bomb attacks on the SDF weeks earlier. said also among those killed American journalist
Raqqa on Wednesday and Kurdish-led force in an at- Journalist Yazir Othman of lightly injured were staff- James Foley and Ameri-
totally charred one of their tempt to slow down the the Arab 24 network said ers with the Kurdistan 24, or can-Israeli journalist Steven
vehicles, activists and me- force’s ongoing offensive several journalists including K24, TV station. Sotloff. The group released
dia officials said. under the cover of airstrikes some with his network suf- It was not immediately a video last year showing
Local and international by the U.S.-led coalition. fered bruises because of clear if IS hit the building the killing of five Syrian me-
journalists have been go- The Britain-based Syr- the blast. with the aim of targeting dia activists, including one
ing to Raqqa to cover the ian Observatory for Human “We were in a safe neigh- journalists. The extremist whose video camera they
U.S.-backed Syrian Demo- Rights and Kurdish official borhood and a car came group has brutally killed rigged with explosives and
cratic Forces offensive to Nawaf Khalil said the blast from underground, we journalists and media ac- detonated while it was tied
capture the city that be- occurred in the eastern don’t know where it came tivists in their custody in the around his neck. q