Page 9 - atoday sept 30

WORLD NEWS 9
Wednesday 30 September

Syria state media praise Putin A Taliban fighter sits on his motorcycle adorned with a Taliban flag in a street in Kunduz,

speech at the United Nations Afghanistan, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. The U.S. military carried out an airstrike on Tuesday on the

ALBERT AJI northern Afghan city of Kunduz, which was captured by the Taliban the previous day in a major
Associated Press
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s state media on Tuesday setback to the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. (AP Photo)
praised Vladimir Putin’s speech before the U.N. General
Assembly in which the Russian leader defended Syrian Despite US airstrikes;
President Bashar Assad.
Syrian newspapers said the speech drew “clear out- Taliban tighten hold on Afghanistan city
lines” for what is needed to “fight terrorism” on a global
level. LYNNE O’DONNELL fight to retake the city lice commanders, anyone
In his address Monday in New York, Putin urged the Associated Press would involve painstaking they can think of. No one
world to stick with Assad, saying it was a “huge mistake” KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) street-by-street fighting as is safe.”
not to engage the Syrian military in the fight against the — A day after a strategic government forces try to The fall of the city of
Islamic State group. northern city fell to the Tal- avoid civilian casualties in 300,000 inhabitants — the
The Al-Baath daily of Assad’s ruling party said the es- iban, the insurgents fanned retaking control. first urban area taken by
sence of the Russian plan for combating terrorism is out in full force Tuesday, Inside the city, residents the Taliban since the U.S.
“simple and clear.” Al-Baath added that “the Russian closing roads, throwing up were stunned by the au- invasion ousted their re-
step is pivotal in the history of the region and the world checkpoints and torching dacity of the insurgents, gime 14 years ago — is a
to prevent the expansion of devastation.” government buildings as who attacked Kunduz on major setback to President
The daily Al-Thawra said Putin entered the United Na- fearful residents huddled a number of fronts before Ashraf Ghani, who has
tions “from the Syrian gate,” adding that “the Russian indoors amid signs a prom- dawn on Monday, taking staked his presidency on
surgeon came to fix flabbiness in the international le- ised Afghan counteroffen- the government, intelli- bringing peace to Afghan-
gitimacy.” sive was faltering. gence agency and mili- istan and seeking to draw
Al-Thawra said Putin struck in his speech at “American U.S. warplanes carried out tary by surprise. the Taliban to peace talks.
charlatanism about fighting terrorism.” two airstrikes on Taliban The insurgents used In a televised address, he
U.S. President Barack Obama and Putin held their first positions, but government mosque loudspeakers to vowed to take Kunduz
formal meeting in more than two years in New York on ground troops sent to try to try to reassure people they back from the insurgents,
Monday without reaching a breakthrough on Syria, retake Kunduz, one of Af- were safe. But residents, re- urging the nation to trust
which has strained their already tense relationship. ghanistan’s wealthiest cit- calling the group’s brutal- Afghan troops to do the
The U.S. still insists Syria’s future cannot include Assad, ies, were stalled by road- ity during its 1996-2001 rule job.
while Putin appears keen to bolster the standing of his blocks and ambushes, un- of Afghanistan, were fear- “The enemy has sustained
longtime ally, casting Assad’s government as the best able to move closer than ful of what was to come. heavy casualties,” he said.
defense against Islamic State militants. about a mile (two kilome- “Kunduz is a ghost city “The enemy’s main ob-
Moscow has been ramping up its involvement in Syria in ters) toward their target. now, fear has locked peo- jective was to create fear
recent weeks by ferrying weapons, troops and supplies A NATO officer said more ple inside their homes,” and terror.”
to an airport near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia in airstrikes were unlikely as said Folad Hamdad, a lo- U.S. warplanes carried out
what the U.S. sees as preparations for setting up an air “all the Taliban are inside cal freelance journalist two airstrikes, one early
base there. the city and so are all the who escaped late Mon- Tuesday morning and an-
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Russia’s pres- people.” He spoke on day to neighboring Takhar other just before midnight
ence in Syria is near the coast, far from Israel. But he condition of anonymity province. near the Kunduz airport to
said Israel will not tolerate advanced weapons reach- because he was not au- He said Taliban gunmen eliminate a threat to the
ing Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah, which has fought thorized to brief media on were going door to door force, said Col. Brian Tribus,
alongside Syrian troops. Yaalon said Israeli warplanes the issue. “searching for govern- spokesman for U.S. forces
on Monday targeted two Syrian artillery guns suspect- His words suggested the ment officials, local po- in Afghanistan.q
ed of shelling inside the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
He said Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told
Putin that “we are not involved and we don’t have any
interest to intervene in the civil war in Syria, but we have
to keep our interests.” Retired Israeli army Col. Jacques
Neriah said Russia has a “moderate presence” in Syria.
“It will help in stabilizing the area, and especially if Rus-
sia has the intent to fight the Islamic State together with
the United States and the Western coalition,” said the
former deputy head for assessment of the Israeli army’s
military intelligence.
Sheikh Naim Kassem, deputy leader of Lebanon’s mili-
tant Hezbollah group, which has sent fighters to help
Assad, said Tuesday that “Russia intervened by its
weapons and capabilities because there is someone
that stood on his feet,” referring to Assad, who is at war
with an array of rebel and Islamic militant groups.q