Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 29 June 2017
Airstrike kills at least 15 in eastern Syrian city to house for costly
Iraqis fight house

Monitoring groups warn victory in Mosul
that civilians are under at-
tack. A U.N. commission
of inquiry called the civil- By MAYA ALLERUZZO
ian death toll of the U.S.- Associated Press
backed campaign for MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Gunfire
Raqqa “staggering.” The echoes through the pock-
Observatory says 231 ci- marked streets as Maj. Ihab
vilians have been killed in Jalil al-Aboudi’s soldiers
coalition airstrikes on IS ter- fight block by block for the
ritory in eastern Syria in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul,
last three months. occasionally pausing to
The top U.S. envoy for the help terrified families flee
international coalition to safety across the rubble.
against the Islamic State Associated Press reporters
group met with members accompanied his forces
of a local council expect- for three weeks in May as
ed to administer Raqqa they battled Islamic State
after IS forces are driven militants in neighborhoods
from the city. A member around Mosul’s Old City,
of the Raqqa Civil Coun- part of a massive offensive
cil, Abdullah el-Erian, told launched in October that
This frame grab from video released Wednesday June 28, 2017, by ANHA news agency for the the Kurdish-run ANHA news Iraqi commanders hope
semi-autonomous Kurdish areas in Syria shows Brett McGurk, center right, the top U.S. envoy for to finally complete in the
the international coalition combating the Islamic State group, leaving after a visit to Ayn Issa, agency, that Brett Mc- coming days. Driving the
Syria. McGurk met with members of a local council expected to administer the city of Raqqa in Gurk’s visit Wednesday is Islamic State from Iraq’s
Syria following its capture from the militants. an “important message”
(ANHA News Agency, via AP) as the U.S- backed fight second largest city would
to seize Raqqa continues. hand a major defeat to
By PHILIP ISSA ians long after the fighting airstrike was carried out by The two-hour meeting the extremist group three
Associated Press has ended. the U.S.-led coalition. The took place in Ayn Issa, a years after it swept across
BEIRUT (AP) — At least 15 Omar Abou Layla, the coalition said it was looking town about 30 miles north much of northern and cen-
people were killed in an head of Deir Ezzor 24, said into the reports. Most of the of Raqqa city, where the tral Iraq. But victory has
airstrike in eastern Syria on 15 bodies, including those victims were prisoners held council is based. come at a heavy cost for
Wednesday, activists said, of women and children, on charges of religious in- A U.S. State Department Mosul’s residents and the
in the second attack in were recovered in the vil- fractions, such as failing to official said McGurk visits soldiers fighting to liberate
three days reported to kill lage. He said residents ex- observe the Ramadan fast, Iraq and Syria often to dis- them from the extremists’
civilians in the Islamic State- pect to find many more said Rahbe. The Observa- cuss humanitarian and sta- rule. On a hot afternoon,
held Euphrates River valley. killed. tory said 42 civilians were bilization assistance, and al-Aboudi helped a group
Two Syrian monitoring Ali Rahbe, of Justice For killed. to “coordinate between of civilians — men, women
groups, Deir Ezzor 24 and Life, said local informants Though the IS group is on our military and civilian and children — navigate
Justice For Life, said an un- counted at least 35 dead the retreat, it still holds ap- initiatives, as well as post- a narrow escape corridor
identified jet dropped a in the village, which is be- proximately 250 kilome- liberation governance for opened up by his forces.
cluster bomb on the village tween the IS strongholds ters (155 miles) of territory areas liberated” from IS. “Thank God for your safe-
of Doblan. Russian, Syrian, of al-Mayadeen and Bou- along the Euphrates River “As the Coalition’s cam- ty,” he said, over and
and U.S.-led coalition air- kamal. The Britain-based in Syria, which has come paign to liberate Raqqa over again, as he handed
craft are all known to oper- Syrian Observatory for Hu- under immense pressure accelerates, we are in reg- them bottles of water. “Lift
ate in the area. man Rights put the initial as rival U.S.-backed Syrian ular contact with coalition your veils!” another soldier
Cluster bombs are de- toll at 30 dead. At least 57 Kurdish forces and Russian- partners from across the called out, signaling to the
signed to spread small people were killed in an air- and Iranian-backed Syrian globe and on the ground women that they were
bomblets across a wide strike on an IS-run jail in the government forces race for in Syria,” the official said on no longer bound by the IS
area, but many fail to ex- Euphrates River Valley on control of the resource-rich condition of anonymity in group’s harsh interpreta-
plode, endangering civil- Monday. Activists said that region. line with regulations.q tion of Islamic law.
A day after Iraq had de-
Hamas creating buffer zone with Egypt to help ties clared the area liberated,
there was still scattered
gunfire and explosions from
By FARES AKRAM territory. creasing Islamic insurgency Abbas governing parts of airstrikes by the U.S.-led co-
Associated Press Earlier this month, Egypt in- since the toppling of for- the West Bank. alition. The streets were lit-
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — vited a high-ranking Hamas mer Egyptian President Mo- After repeated failed rec- tered with the bodies of
Hamas has begun work on delegation for rare negoti- hammed Morsi after a year onciliation attempts, Ab- Islamic State militants who
a buffer zone along Gaza’s ations in Cairo. The Hamas- in office in 2013. Morsi was bas has tried to squeeze had fought to the death.
border with Egypt, the Is- run Interior Ministry said the a Hamas patron. Hamas financially in recent Al-Aboudi is the fourth
lamic militant group said creation of the 12-kilome- Both Egypt and Israel im- months, hoping to force it commander to take
Wednesday, as part of an ter-long (7.5-mile), 100-me- posed a blockade on to cede control. charge of the unit since
effort to assure Cairo that ter-wide (330-foot) corridor Gaza after Hamas ousted On Wednesday, bulldoz- the Mosul offensive began
it’s serious about prevent- was a result of these talks. forces loyal to the West- ers worked on the land, eight months ago. One of
ing the cross-border flow of It said construction will take ern-backed Palestinian leveling and clearing it his predecessors was killed
weapons and militants. about a month. There are President Mahmoud Ab- from bushes — flattening in action and another was
Hamas officials hope the no homes in the sandy bas in 2007 in bloody street the ground and makeshift wounded.
creation of the buffer will area. Egypt has long ac- battles. Palestinians have structures that had pro- “We have become more
lead to an easing of the cused Hamas of fueling un- been split between the ri- tected entry points for un- experienced in dealing
crippling decade-long rest in North Sinai, where its val groups since then with derground smuggling tun- with the civilians in an op-
blockade of the coastal army has been battling in- Hamas ruling Gaza and nelsq
erational zone,” he said. q