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WORLD NEWSFriday 2 February 2018
Syrian government gains ground as rebels battle Kurds
By PHILIP ISSA A restaurant worker, wounded in a rocket attack, fired from inside Syria, walks to an ambulance He also said that aid deliv-
Associated Press in the border town of Kilis, Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018. eries to "besieged areas"
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian gov- in Syria have fallen to their
ernment forces pushed Associated Press lowest level since 2015 —
into an opposition strong- before the task force was
hold on Thursday, as Turk- 50 kilometers (31 miles) to Mevlut Cavusoglu called Egeland spoke Thursday created — with no access
ish troops and allied Syrian the north. the warning an "insult" and to reporters in Geneva af- to them at all for the last
fighters battled with Kurdish That campaign, code- said Thursday that France ter a regular meeting of two months.
militants in a nearby area. named Operation Olive was in no position to "teach world and regional powers Also on Thursday, the op-
Syrian troops and allied mi- Branch, has drawn protest a lesson" to Turkey over its in a U.N. humanitarian "task position's Higher Negotia-
litia forces moved within 14 from the U.S. and France, cross-border offensive, re- force" for Syria. tions Committee said it was
kilometers (9 miles) of the who consider the Kurds an ferring to past French mili- Booby traps and mines ready to back a Russian-
town of Saraqeb, in Idlib, ally in the war on the Islam- tary interventions in Algeria planted by the Islamic State brokered constitutional re-
the opposition's largest ic State group. and other parts of Africa. group in Raqqa have killed form initiative for Syria, so
stronghold in the country, Turkey considers the Kurd- Cavusoglu said France un- or wounded an average 50 long as it's lead by the Unit-
a war monitoring group re- ish People's Protection Units derstood that Turkey was people per week since U.S.- ed Nations.
ported. - or YPG - to be an exten- fighting "terrorists" and did backed fighters - including Any constitutional com-
The Syrian Observatory for sion of a Kurdish insurgency not aim to invade Afrin. the YPG - expelled the ji- mittee must be formed at
Human Rights said pro-gov- inside Turkey and views the Some 15,000 civilians have hadist group from the city the U.N., and include rep-
ernment forces were inch- group at its borders as a been driven by the joint in October, Egeland said. resentation from the HNC,
ing closer to a key highway national security threat. Turkish-Syrian opposition "There are explosives all which represents the Syr-
connecting two of Syria's Ankara took umbrage at campaign into the Kurdish- over civilian areas," Ege- ian opposition in U.N. talks
largest cities, Damascus remarks by French Presi- controlled city of Afrin, ac- land said, adding that with the government in Ge-
and Aleppo, which passes dent Emmanuel Macron, cording to U.N. humanitar- residents were returning to neva, said HNC chief Nasr
just east of Saraqeb. who warned against an "in- ian adviser Jan Egeland. the city too quickly for de- al-Hariri.
Syria's military leveraged vasion operation." The figure could not be in- mining operations to keep He spoke in Istanbul at a
its monopoly on air power Turkish Foreign Minister dependently verified. pace. press conference on Thurs-
to carve a path deep in- day, two days after Russia
side Idlib to reach the Abu convened its Syria Con-
Dhuhour air base, 26 kilo- gress for National Dialogue
meters (16 miles) southeast in Sochi. The HNC boycot-
of Saraqeb, last month. ted the Congress, saying it
It then started marching would not lead to peace.
toward Saraqeb, an im- Russia is a key ally of the
portant military center for Syrian government.
rebels and al-Qaida-linked Deciding the committee's
insurgents in control of Idlib. makeup could doom the
"The bombing has been initiative before it even
non-stop," said local me- takes wing. Syrian state me-
dia activist Abdulghani dia, a government mouth-
Dabaan. piece, says Damascus will
The opposition has limited have two-thirds of the rep-
anti-aircraft capabilities. resentation on the commit-
Turkey has mobilized some tee.
10,000 Syrian opposition Hariri said the HNC would
fighters to fight in its cam- not accept having a com-
paign against a Kurdish mil- mittee appointed at Sochi.
itant group approximately q
Myanmar court refuses bail for reporters in secrets case
Reuters journalist Wa Lone give a "thumps up" as he is escorted day denied bail for two not be granted in cases in- Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.
by police as he returns to court Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, outside Reuters journalists charged volving the Official Secrets It has now been more than
of Yangon, Myanmar. with illegally handling gov- Act. 50 days since they were
ernment secrets, their law- The case has been strongly arrested, and they should
Associated Press yer said. criticized as an effort to in- have the opportunity to
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo timidate the press, espe- be with their families as the
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A Myanmar court on Thurs- were arrested Dec. 12 after cially its coverage of the hearings continue," Reuters
police accused them of sensitive situation in Myan- president and editor-in-
violating the country's colo- mar's Rakhine state where chief Stephen J. Adler said
nial-era Official Secrets Act the military is accused in a statement. "We believe
for acquiring "important se- of massive human rights the court proceedings will
cret papers" from two po- abuses against the Muslim demonstrate their inno-
licemen. The charge is pun- Rohingya minority. The two cence and Wa Lone and
ishable by up to 14 years in police officers who handed Kyaw Soe Oo will be able
prison. the papers to the journalists to return to their jobs report-
Lawyer Than Zaw Aung had worked in Rakhine. ing on events in Myanmar.
said the presiding judge "We are disappointed that We continue to call for their
declared that bail could the court denied bail for prompt release. " q
