Page 29 - bon-dia-aruba-20220713

A29
world news Diaranson 13 Juli 2022

Pentagon: US kills IS group leader in Syria in drone strike

(AP) — The Pentagon said Tues- The Islamic State group at the height
day that it killed a leader of the of its power controlled more than
Islamic State group in Syria in a 40,000 square miles (103,600 square
drone strike. kilometers) stretching from Syria to
Iraq and ruled more than 8 million
U.S. Central Command said in a people. While the group's territo-
news release that Maher al-Agal was rial state collapsed in 2019, its lead-
killed Tuesday and an unidentified se- ers have turned to guerilla tactics and
nior official in the Islamic State group have been able to "efficiently restruc-
was seriously injured. The Pentagon ture themselves organizationally,"
said there were no civilian casualties, according to the Washington-based
though it wasn't possible to immedi- Carnegie Endowment for Interna-
ately confirm that information. tional Peace, a nonpartisan think tank.

The U.S. carried out the strike out- The strike on al-Agal comes months
side Jindaris, a town in northwest after the head of the group, Abu Ibra-
Syria close to the Turkish border. him al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, killed
himself during a raid on his hideout
The attack "takes a key terrorist off by American special forces. The U.S.
the field and significantly degrades said Al-Qurayshi blew himself up
the ability of (IS) to plan, resource, along with members of his family.
and conduct their operations in the in a Turkish-backed faction called
region," said President Joe Biden in a According to a war monitor, the Syr- Jaysh Al-Sharqiyyah. CENTCOM has said that violent
statement. "And, like the U.S. opera- ian Observatory for Human Rights, extremist organizations "continue
tion in February that eliminated (IS's) al-Agal was a former prominent com- U.S.-led coalition forces have also to present a threat to America and
overall leader, it sends a powerful mander of the Islamic State group targeted al-Qaeda-linked militants our allies, and ... al-Qaeda-affiliated
message to all terrorists who threat- during its control of Raqqa and had in Syria over the years. Last month, a groups have used the rebel-held en-
en our homeland and our interests since moved farther north to Afrin in U.S. drone strike killed a senior lead- clave in northwestern Syria as a safe
around the world." 2020 under Turkish-backed factions. er of the Horas al-Din group, Abu haven."
He was most recently a commander Hamzah al Yemeni.

Europeans reject Israeli charges against Palestinian NGOs

(AP) – Nine European denied the allegations and ac- policy towards the six Pales- nizations."
countries said Tuesday cused Israel of escalating a tinian NGOs on the basis of Israel's Foreign Ministry and
that they have seen "no long-standing crackdown on the Israeli decision to desig- Defense Ministry did not The terror declaration ini-
substantial evidence" to Palestinian opposition to its nate these NGOs as 'terrorist immediately respond to re- tially appeared to pave the
support Israel's allega- decades-long military rule. organizations'" it said. quests for comment. way for Israel to raid their of-
tions that six Palestinian fices, seize assets, arrest staff
civil society groups are "Accusations of terrorism "Should evidence be made Israel accused the groups and criminalize any public
terrorist organizations or links to terrorist groups available to the contrary, we of serving as a front for the expressions of support for the
and would not change must always be treated with would act accordingly," it Popular Front for the Libera- groups. But all six have con-
their policies on support- the utmost seriousness," added. tion of Palestine, a left-wing tinued operating.
ing the groups. read the statement, issued by The announcement came movement which has a polit-
Belgium, Denmark, France, a day before President Joe ical party as well as an armed The Dutch government an-
The rare joint statement Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Biden is scheduled to arrive wing that has carried out nounced in January that
was a major rebuke of Israel, Netherlands, Spain and Swe- on a visit that is expected to deadly attacks against Israe- it would stop funding the
which backlisted the groups den. include meetings with Pal- lis going back decades. Israel Union of Agricultural Work
as terrorist organizations last estinian civil society repre- and Western nations consider Committees after it found
October but has provided "No substantial information sentatives, though it is un- the PFLP a terrorist organi- evidence that individual
little evidence to support its was received from Israel that likely he will meet any of the zation. staffers were linked to the
allegations. The rights groups would justify reviewing our groups targeted by Israel. PFLP. But it said it found no
The blacklisted organizations evidence the group had "or-
are the Al-Haq human rights ganizational ties" to the PFLP
group, the Addameer rights or was involved in funding or
group, Defense for Chil- carrying out terrorism, as Is-
dren International-Palestine, rael had alleged.
the Bisan Center for Re-
search and Development, the Israel has long accused hu-
Union of Palestinian Wom- man rights groups and inter-
en's Committees and the national bodies of being bi-
Union of Agricultural Work ased against it and of singling
Committees. it out while ignoring graver
violations by other countries.
In its Oct. 22 announcement,
the Israeli Defense Minis- Most of the targeted organi-
try said the organizations are zations document alleged hu-
"controlled by senior leaders" man rights violations by Isra-
of the PFLP and employ its el as well as the internation-
members, including some ally recognized Palestinian
who have "participated in ter- Authority, which administers
ror activity." It said the groups parts of the Israeli-occupied
serve as a "central source" of West Bank. Both Israel and
financing for the PFLP and the PA routinely detain Pal-
had received "large sums of estinian activists.
money from European coun-
tries and international orga-