Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY
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A8 WORLD NEWS
Monday 3 July 2017
Airstrikes propel Mosul gains, despite toll on civilians
By SUSANNAH GEORGE number of munitions used
Associated Press was relatively high.
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi Half buried in a mound of
forces say their recent ter- rubble beside a strike cra-
ritorial gains against the ter, limbs protruded, dark-
Islamic State group in Mo- ened by dust and rotting
sul’s Old City have largely in the summer heat. The
been propelled by air- pile of rocks was once a
strikes, despite a spike in brightly painted house with
allegations of civilian ca- a courtyard garden.
sualties and warnings from “Those were two Dae-
human rights groups of the sh fighters,” said Sgt. Ali
dangers of using large mu- Mehdi, a member of al-
nitions in the dense, highly- Timimi’s security detail, us-
populated area. ing an Arabic acronym for
As strikes pummeled the IS.
Old City Sunday, hundreds When the small unit round-
of civilians fled. Many were ed another narrow street
badly injured and had the men silently stepped
to be carried out over over the body of an elderly
mounds of rubble by fam- man lying in a pool of fresh
ily members. Deeper in- blood.
side the district, narrow al- A warning cracked over
leyways were littered with An Iraqi Special Forces soldier walks in the destroyed al-Nuri mosque complex as Iraqi forces the radio that an airstrike
bodies. continue their advance against Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, Sunday, July was called in on a position
2, 2017.
Special forces Lt. Col. Mu- (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) just 50 meters away and
the men ducked into a
hanad al-Timimi said over cleared home. When they
the past three days his emerged two more bod-
forces have carried out ies, in civilian clothes and
about 20 airstrikes a day on without weapons, lay in
IS-held territory within there the next street.
are of operation — a por- Throughout the fight
tion of the Old City mea- against IS, the U.S.-led co-
suring about one square alition has largely relied on
kilometer (0.6 square miles) airstrikes to enable Iraqi
in size. ground forces to advance.
“It’s because we have a But in previous battles, civil-
lot of enemy forces here,” ians were evacuated from
he said, conceding the front lines.q
Syria: Damascus rocked by
suicide blast, 2 more foiled
By ALBERT AJI driver blew himself up near
SARAH EL DEEB Tahreer Square.
Associated Press The Syrian Minister of Lo-
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — cal Administration, Hus-
Security forces chased sein Makhlouf, said the re-
three explosive-laden ve- sponse marked a “major
hicles through Damascus success in foiling a plot” to
Sunday, intercepting two cause mass casualties.
of them at checkpoints but There were conflicting ca-
failing to stop the third be- sualty reports. Syrian state
fore it exploded in the city TV reported eight killed and
center, killing at least eight another 12 people wound-
people, state media and ed in the blast near Damas-
others reported. cus’ old city. The Britain-
The rare attack in the heart based Syrian Observatory
of Syria’s capital unfold- for Human Rights, which
ed ahead of the morning tracks the fighting with on-
commute on the first work the-ground monitors, re-
day after a major Muslim ported at least 12 killed.
holiday. The Interior Min- Meanwhile the Hezbollah-
istry said security forces linked Lebanon’s al-Manar
tracked all three cars and TV, which is close to the Syr-
intercepted two of them at ian government, and Diary
checkpoints on the airport of a Mortar, a Syrian activist
road. The third made it into group in the capital, said
the city center, where the 19 people were killed. q
