Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 7 November 2019
Erdogan: Turkey captures slain IS leader al-Baghdadi's wife

By SUZAN FRASER ter. At one point, al-Bagh-
Associated Press dadi was also believed to
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Tur- have married to a German
key has captured a wife of teenager in 2015 but she
the slain leader of the Islam- was reported to have fled
ic State group, Abu Bakr al- a year later.
Baghdadi, Turkish President The raid that killed al-Bagh-
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said dadi was a major blow to
Wednesday. his extremist group, which
Erdogan made the an- has lost territories it held in
nouncement while deliver- Syria and Iraq in a series of
ing a speech in the capi- military defeats by the U.S-
tal of Ankara but gave no led coalition and Syrian
other details. He did not say and Iraqi allies.
when or how the woman Al-Baghdadi's aide, a Sau-
was captured or identify di, was killed hours after the
her by name. raid, also in northwestern
Al-Baghdadi was known to Syria, in a U.S. strike. The
have four wives. One of his group named a successor
aides has said the shadowy to al-Baghdadi days later,
IS leader had four wives, but little is known about him
the maximum number he or how the group's struc-
can have at one time un- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, ture has been affected by
der Islamic law. Nov. 6, 2019. the successive blows.
"We caught his wife, but we Associated Press Up and until his death, al-
didn't make a fuss about it. province in northwestern tes Shield zone. ter of one of his aides, Abu Baghdadi had moved from
I am announcing this today Syria. Turkey has seized Awad was with her hus- Abdullah al-Zubaie. She place to place in eastern
for the first time," Erdogan on both incidents to high- band, daughter-in-law and was identified by name by Syria amid a tightening
said, while criticizing the light what it says is its fight five children when she was al-Baghdadi's brother-in- U.S.-led campaign against
United States for leading against the IS group, in the detained. A Turkish official law in a recent interview his group as IS-held territo-
a "communications cam- face of accusations that said the 65-year-old sister is with al-Arabiya TV. The ry fell bit by bit. He ended
paign" about Baghdadi's the Turkish military offensive suspected of being affiliat- brother-in-law, Mohamad up in Idlib, in northwestern
slaying. last month to drive Syrian ed with the extremist group Ali Sajit, who is in Iraqi cus- Syria, an area controlled by
The IS leader blew himself Kurdish fighters from north- and called her capture an tody, said al-Baghdadi had a rival, al-Qaida-linked mili-
up during an Oct. 26 raid east Syria would allow for a intelligence "gold mine." four wives when he last met tant group. It was not clear
by U.S. special forces on his resurgence of the militant Authorities had posted a him, sometime last summer. if any of his wives were with
heavily fortified safe house Islamic group. picture of the sister. Also, one of al-Baghdadi's him at the time of the raid,
in the Syrian province of Azaz is part of a region ad- It was not Immediately ex-wives was arrested in during which two of his chil-
Idlib. ministered by Turkey fol- clear if Awad's capture led Lebanon in 2014, and was dren were killed.
Erdogan's announcement lowing previous military in- to intelligence that allowed freed a year later in a pris- In its first video release after
comes just days after Turkish cursions to chase away IS for the detention of the oner swap with al-Qaida. the killing of al-Baghdadi, IS
forces captured al-Bagh- militants and Kurdish fight- wife. The Iraqi ex-wife, Saja al- media listed a series of its
dadi's elder sister, identi- ers, starting in 2016. Allied One of al-Baghdadi's wives Dulaimi, had fled from al- operations against Iranian-
fied as Rasmiya Awad, in Syrian groups manage the is an Iraqi known by the Baghdadi in 2009 while backed militias in northern
the town of Azaz, in Aleppo area known as the Euphra- name of Nour, the daugh- pregnant with his daugh- Baghdad in Iraq.q

World Bank sounds alarm about Lebanon amid protests, crisis

By ZEINA KARAM balled into calls for the gov- mediately on addressing
Associated Press ernment to resign and for Lebanon's economic cri-
BEIRUT (AP) — The World the entire political elite that sis. They accuse officials of
Bank called on Lebanese has ruled Lebanon since dragging their feet on that.
authorities Wednesday to the end of its 1975-90 civil Following his meeting with
urgently form a new gov- war to step aside. Aoun, World Bank Regional
ernment that can address The protests have para- Director Saroj Kumar Jha
the country's worsening lyzed the country and kept said he urged swift mea-
economic situation, warn- banks shuttered for two sures to ensure Lebanon's
ing that Lebanon "does not weeks. Lebanon, one of economic and financial
have the luxury of time to the most heavily indebted stability. "The politics has
waste." The stark warning countries in the world, al- most attention, but econ-
came in a statement issued ready was dealing with a omy has the most risks," he
after a meeting between severe fiscal crisis before said.
the World Bank's regional the protests began, one "With every passing day,
director and President Mi- Anti-government protesters chant slogans as they hold a rooted in years of heavy the situation is becoming
placard in Arabic thats reads "The clean judge stands alone,"
chel Aoun amid ongoing during ongoing protests against the Lebanese government, in borrowing and expensive more acute and this would
mass protests and a severe front of the Justice Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. patronage networks run make recovery extremely
economic and financial 6, 2019. by entrenched political challenging," he added.
crisis. Associated Press parties. The protesters are "Lebanon does not have
Prime Minister Saad Hariri unprecedented protests of last month. The protest- calling for the formation of the luxury of time to waste
resigned his government on which have swept Leba- ers erupted over proposed a technocrat government to redress issues that need
Oct. 29 in response to the non starting in the middle new taxes and have snow- that would get to work im- immediate attention." q