Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 5 July 2017
US-backed forces breach wall around IS-held Raqqa in Syria

heavy clashes were under- The Islamic State group
way.Footage provided by seized Raqqa, their first
the SDF showed their fight- major city stronghold in
ers roaming Qasr al-Banat, Syria, in January 2014. The
a historic quarter inside city later became the de
Raqqa’s Old City. Another facto capital of IS’ self-pro-
unit entered through the claimed caliphate, stretch-
so-called Baghdad Gate, ing across lands controlled
opening up a second front by the militant group in Syr-
inside the Old City. ia and Iraq.
Brett McGurk, the top U.S. U.N. officials say 50,000 to
envoy for the international 100,000 civilians remain in
coalition against the Is- the city amid “dire” condi-
lamic State group, hailed tions. Those who try to es-
the breach, saying it was cape risk being attacked
a “key milestone” in the by IS militants or forcibly
campaign to seize the IS recruited as human shields.
stronghold. The U.S.-led coalition is pro-
The U.S. military said IS fight- viding close air support to
ers were using the historic the SDF, which has already
This frame grab from video released Tuesday, July 4, 2017, and provided by Furat FM, a Syrian wall as a fighting position, driven the extremists from
Kurdish activist-run media group, shows U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters in
the eastern side of Raqqa, Syria. The SDF forces have breached the wall around Raqqa’s Old City, and had planted explo- much of northern and east-
the U.S. military said Tuesday, marking a major advance in the weeks-old battle to drive Islamic sives at several openings. It ern Syria.
State militants out of their self-declared capital. said coalition forces were Several IS leaders were
(Furat FM, via AP) making every effort to pro- once based in Raqqa,
tect civilians and preserve where the group plotted
By SARAH EL DEEB The U.S. Central Command The head of the Britain- the historic sites. attacks in Europe. The loss
Associated Press said the coalition struck based Syrian Observatory The Kurdish-led Syrian Dem- of the northern Syrian city,
BEIRUT (AP) — U.S.-backed two “small portions” of the for Human Rights, Rami ocratic Forces launched a one of the last IS strong-
forces in Syria have Rafiqah Wall, allowing the Abdurrahman, said the multi-pronged assault on holds, would deal a major
breached the wall around Kurdish-led Syrian Demo- breaching of the wall was Raqqa in early June, after blow to the group. The mili-
Raqqa’s Old City, the U.S. cratic Forces “to advance the most important de- securing the surrounding tants are also on the verge
military said on Tuesday, into the most heavily forti- velopment to date in the countryside. On Sunday, of losing their last foothold
marking a major advance fied portion” of the city, battle for Raqqa. He said the U.S.-backed fighters in the northern Iraqi city of
in the weeks-old battle to bypassing booby traps and three SDF units advanced crossed the Euphrates River Mosul, from where IS leader
drive Islamic State militants snipers. It said the strikes left toward the wall under air on the southern edge of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi pro-
out of their self-declared most of the 2,500-meter cover, breaking through the city, completing its en- claimed the IS caliphate in
capital. (yard) wall intact. the IS defenses, and that circlement. July 2014.q

Iraqi PM congratulates troops on ‘big victory’ in Mosul

By SUSANNAH GEORGE freed from the militant
Associated Press group. Inside Mosul’s Old
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Iraq’s City, civilians fleeing Iraqi
prime minister on Tuesday advance are increasingly
congratulated his fight- desperate. The elderly and
ers on “the big victory in weak are carried across
Mosul” — even as fighting mounds of rubble in blan-
with Islamic State militants kets. Soldiers — increasing-
continued in Mosul’s Old ly fearful of the Old City’s
City neighborhood where inhabitants after a string of
Iraqi forces are about 250 suicide bombings — hurry
meters from the Tigris River the groups along.
and facing increasingly A middle-aged woman
fierce resistance. with a gaunt, pale face
Haider al-Abadi spoke dur- fainted as she fled past the
ing a press conference in destroyed al-Nuri Mosque.
Baghdad, less than a week Two soldiers carried her to
after he declared an end the roadside and tried to
to IS’ self-styled caliphate revive her with cold water.
after Iraqi forces achieved Largely cut off from food
an incremental win by re- and water for months, hu-
taking the landmark al-Nuri manitarian groups are re-
Mosque in the Old City. A Federal Police Rapid Response Force fighter walks inside a building at Mosul’s main hospital porting a spike in the num-
“Praise be to God, we complex after it was retaken by Iraqi forces during fighting against Islamic State militants, in Mo- ber of displaced people
managed to liberate (Mo- sul, Iraq, Tuesday, July 4, 2017. suffering from malnutrition
sul) and proved the others (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) and dehydration.
were wrong, the people “None of the previous bat-
of Mosul supported and His remarks came on the from where he declared an ference, al-Abadi added tles were like this,” said Iraqi
stood with our security third anniversary of IS leader Islamic caliphate on IS-held that he has given instruc- Maj. Faris Aboud, working
forces against terrorism,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s ser- lands in Syria and Iraq. tions to rebuild and stabilize at a small field hospital just
al-Abadi said. mon at the al-Nuri Mosque, Also during the press con- areas of the city already outside the Old City.q