Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 27 July 2018
IS attack devastates community in southern Syria

servatory for Human Rights
also reported the abduc-
tion, saying dozens were
taken from their homes
but details of the opera-
tion remained unclear. The
Observatory put the death
toll at 246, including 111
members of local militias
who took up arms to fight
the advancing militants.
At least 135 civilians were
among the killed, the Ob-
servatory said.
SNN said many of the dead
were shot in the head as
they slept.
The Observatory also re-
ported bodies found killed
inside homes.
Since their offensive in June,
Syrian President Bashar
Assad's forces have retak-
en territories controlled by
the rebels along the Go-
lan Heights frontier and are
now fighting militants in the
country's southern tip.
On Thursday afternoon,
Syrian troops entered the
town of Quneitra in the Go-
lan Heights and reached
the frontier with the Israeli-
occupied part of the re-
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, mourners attend mass funeral of people killed a day earlier by gion, where the Syrian Cen-
series of suicide bombings launched by Islamic State's fighters in al-Sweida, Syria, Thursday, July 26, 2018. tral Military Media said they
Associated Press raised the Syrian flag.
The SCMM posted pho-
By SARAH EL DEEB ered in a hall to pay their that has for years been in the desert in adjacent tographs from inside the
Associated Press respects to the dead. The spared the violence. Homs province. town, where homes have
BEIRUT (AP) — Mourners in devastated city was cov- Diana Semaan, a Syria re- The militants launched their been left badly damaged
southern Syria attended ered in black and shops searcher at the rights group offensive with a spate of since wars with Israel de-
mass funerals Thursday for were closed during the day Amnesty International, suicide bombing attacks cades ago.
least 216 people killed in to mourn the mass deaths. said there were signs that in the city of Sweida in the Syrian state TV also report-
coordinated attacks by Is- Until Wednesday, Sweida, no government troops or early hours of Wednesday, ed that troops captured
lamic State fighters on a home to a predominantly security were present to including one at a busy the nearby town of Sahem
usually peaceful city and Druze community, had provide protection for the vegetable market that left al-Golan later in the day.
surrounding countryside. largely been spared the community when it came a scene of devastation. IS has been largely defeat-
In the worst violence to hit violence that has hit Syria under attack. Despite the The militants also swarmed ed in Syria and Iraq, but
the area since the coun- since 2011. community's push-back several villages in the prov- still has pockets of territory
try's conflict began, the As Syria's civil war took in- against getting involved in ince's northeast, and in it controls in eastern and
militants also reportedly ab- creasingly sectarian under- the war, the government some cases, shot residents southern Syria.
ducted at least 18 people, tones, pitting the largely has an "obligation" to pro- as they slept, according The extremist group boast-
activists said. Sunni opposition against tect them, Semaan said. to activist-operated Face- ed that its "soldiers" killed
The simultaneous attacks the predominantly Alawite "We call on all sides to pri- book page Sweida News more than 100 people in
on the city of Sweida and ruling class, the Druze mi- oritize the protection of ci- Network. Sweida.
surrounding villages a day nority stayed largely on the vilians. This didn't happen Hassan Omar, a govern- In a statement posted on
earlier evoked the dark sidelines. Community lead- (in Sweida)," she said. "No ment health official in Swei- the group's social media
days of Islamic State vio- ers in Sweida took a firm government troops were in da province, said Thursday channels, it said its militants
lence that beleaguered position against participat- site." that at least 150 people carried out surprise attacks
Syria and neighboring Iraq ing in the war, resisting en- The rare attacks in Sweida were wounded in the at- on government and securi-
during the group's heyday rolling their sons in the army came amid a government tacks and that some were ty centers, sparking clashes
in 2014 and 2015. The ab- to avoid revenge attacks. offensive elsewhere in the in critical condition. with Syrian troops and al-
duction of civilians — ac- The Druze, followers of an country's south. Syrian forc- SNN also shared the names lied militias. It mentioned
tivists say at least 14 were esoteric offshoot of Islam, es are battling an IS-linked of at least 18 people ab- nothing about attacking
women — also were remi- have kept their own local group near the frontier with ducted from one village, civilians in villages.
niscent of the group's tac- militias. the Israeli-occupied Go- Shabki, most of them wom- The Islamic State group
tic of taking hostages and The attacks Wednesday lan Heights and near the en. Their fate remained posted no death toll for its
using women as sex slaves. rocked the community, border with Jordan. The unknown and it was not own men in Wednesday's
A mass funeral was held sparking criticism of the group also has a small pres- immediately clear if they fighting. The Observatory
in the city of Sweida on government for failing to ence on the eastern edge were missing or abducted. said at least 56 militants
Thursday where men gath- protect the minority group of Sweida province, and The Britain-based Syrian Ob- were killed.q