Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 28 July 2017
Gaza power-sharing deal moves ahead with parliament meeting

By FARES AKRAM the new partnership, ad- and independents. lutions concerning Gaza. who lost members during
Associated Press dressing the gathering by Fatah legislators loyal to The Western-backed Ab- Hamas-Fatah infighting.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) video conference from Abbas stayed away from bas, who administers parts In recent months, Abbas
— Rival Palestinian law- his exile in the United Arab the meeting, underscoring of the Israeli-occupied has taken severe measures
makers came together for Emirates. the deepening rift in the West Bank, stayed away against Gaza to squeeze
the first time in a decade “We have made mutual movement. Dahlan fell out from Gaza. Hamas and force it to cede
on Thursday in Gaza’s par- efforts with our brothers in with Abbas in 2010. In an interview with The control,
liament, the latest sign that Hamas to restore hope for The legislature has been Associated Press over the slashing salaries of former
an emerging Gaza power- Gaza’s heroic people,” idled since Hamas routed weekend, Dahlan revealed Palestinian Authority public
sharing deal between the Dahlan told the lawmakers. pro-Abbas forces, then un- that the power-sharing deal servants there, asking Israel
territory’s Hamas rulers and The gathering included der Dahlan’s command, with Hamas aims at easing to scale back electricity
a former Gaza strongman is dozens of legislators from and took over Gaza in a crippling Israeli-Egyptian supplies and reducing oth-
moving forward. Hamas, several Dahlan 2007. blockade on Gaza, help er services.
Mohammed Dahlan, a backers from the Fatah Over the past decade, resolve acute power short- Hamas, short on options
former Gaza security chief movement of Palestinian only Hamas lawmakers met age and pay reparations and allies, sought help from
and Hamas rival, praised President Mahmoud Abbas in parliament to pass reso- for hundreds of families Dahlan.q

US-backed Syrian fighters now control almost half of IS city

By SARAH EL DEEB “stiff, sporadic resistance”
Associated Press from IS militants entrenched
RAQQA, Syria (AP) — Heavy in Raqqa.
fighting broke out Thursday Commanders on the west-
as U.S.-backed Syrian fight- ern Raqqa front line said
ers captured almost half of there were about 800 me-
the Islamic State group’s ters left before SDF forces
de facto capital of Raqqa. moving from east and west
But the push into the city in would connect — tighten-
northern Syria slowed due ing the noose on IS.
to stiff resistance and large The battlefield Thursday
amounts of explosives was busy with hundreds of
planted by the extremists, SDF fighters taking cover
a spokeswoman for the inside destroyed buildings
fighters and monitors said. less than 500 meters from
The assault on Raqqa by IS combatants. SDF troops
the Syrian Democratic lobbed dozens of mortar
Forces, a Kurdish-led fight- shells at the militants, who
ing coalition, began June sent out armed drones
6, backed by U.S.-led co- above the SDF forces
alition airstrikes and U.S. Meanwhile, senior U.N. hu-
troops advising the local manitarian official Ursula
forces. Mueller told the U.N. Secu-
Since then, the SDF has rity Council by video from
made steady advances Jordan on Thursday that
from the eastern and west- Syrian children and youths gather on a street as they look at a U.S. armored vehicle convoy pass an estimated 20,000 to
on a road that links to Raqqa city, northeast Syria, Wednesday, July 26, 2017. The U.S. has up to
ern sides of the city, reach- 1,000 troops in Syria mostly involved in training and advising the local forces against IS. Kurdish 50,000 people remained in
ing the walled old quarter. forces have gained confidence in light of open U.S. support to their forces, particularly as the Raqqa.
The fall of Raqqa, the ex- battle for Raqqa took off. She said the city was encir-
tremist group’s self-pro- (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) cled and “there is no way
claimed capital, would be much tougher fighting still coalition fighting the Islam- In a series of tweets, he said for them to get out.”
a huge loss for IS, which lies ahead. ic State group, said 45 per- the SDF cleared about 9 Since April 1, over 200,000
earlier this month lost the Army Col. Ryan Dillon, cent of Raqqa was under square miles of terrain this people have fled their
Iraqi city of Mosul. But homes in the area around
spokesman for the U.S.-led the control of the SDF. past week fighting against Raqqa, she said. q

AP Interview: Yemen factions said to have pledged easing aid

By KARIN LAUB The growing suffering of said Anthony Lake, the ex- by the irresponsibility of this look of trust, and we
Associated Press Yemen’s civilians, includ- ecutive director of UNICEF. governments and others won’t know for how many
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — ing millions of children, is “Stop the war,” he said, to allow these things to be that trust will be fulfilled and
Warring sides in Yemen’s the result of fighting that addressing those involved happening.” In Yemen, he they live, and (how many)
civil war promised visiting erupted in September 2014 in the civil war, both inside stood by the bedside of others will die.” Lake was
U.N. agency chiefs to clear and is driven by regional and outside Yemen. children suffering from se- joined by the heads of the
obstacles to aid delivery in rivals Saudi Arabia and Lake said ordinary people vere acute malnutrition, World Food Program and
a nation where cholera is Iran. The U.S. has backed around the world should accompanied by mothers the World Health Organiza-
spreading rapidly and hun- a Saudi-led coalition with feel “immense pity, even who had struggled to get tion during the Yemen tour.
dreds of thousands of chil- intelligence, satellite imag- agony, for all of these chil- them to the hospital. The trio met with officials
dren are severely malnour- ery and billions of dollars dren and others who are “What stays with you is their from the rival governments
ished, the head of the U.N. in weapons sales. The way suffering, and they should eyes,” he said of the chil- to win assurances that
child welfare agency said to end to end the entirely feel anger, anger that this, dren. “Their eyes are look- obstacles to aid delivery
Thursday. man-made disaster is clear, our generation, is scarred ing up at their mothers with would be removed.q