Page 9 - aruba-today-20170701

A9
WORLD NEWS Saturday 1 July 2017
Hundreds flee Mosul as Iraqi forces squeeze extremists

ernment forces are fighting the caliphate in 2014.
have been under siege for During the evening, al-
months as grueling urban Abadi announced that the
warfare drew out the op- full liberation of Mosul was
eration to retake Iraq’s sec- near and that Iraq’s “brave
ond-largest city. forces will bring victory.”
For the civilians held as Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab al-
human shields by the ex- Saadi said that by Friday
tremists, supplies have run afternoon, the special
low and drinking water forces were within 700 me-
is scarce, according to ters (766 yards) of the Tigris
residents interviewed at River, which roughly divides
screening centers and clin- Mosul into eastern and
ics by The Associated Press. western halves.
The battles came a day The operation to retake
after Iraqi forces made sig- Mosul, backed closely by
nificant gains against the the U.S.-led coalition, be-
militants and Prime Minister gan in October, with the
Haider al-Abadi declared Iraqi government initially
an end to the group’s self- vowing the city would be
proclaimed caliphate. liberated in 2016.
After a dawn push on Thurs- IS now holds a small patch
day, Iraqi forces retook the of territory in Mosul’s Old
Iraqi civilians flee through a destroyed alley as Iraqi Special Forces move toward Islamic State symbolic site where the al- City along the Tigris that
positions in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, June 30, 2017. Nuri Mosque once stood. measures less than two
(AP Photo/Felipe Dana) It was from the pulpit of square kilometers (0.8
By FELIPE DANA the last pockets of Islamic People climbed over the 12th century mosque, square miles). The terrain
Associated Press State resistance, and the mounds of rubble and which the militants blew up is dense, and the U.N. esti-
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Hun- U.N. warned that the “in- through narrow alleys last week along with its fa- mates tens of thousands of
dreds of civilians fled Mo- tense and concentrated” as gunshots and explo- mous leaning minaret, that civilians are trapped there.
sul’s Old City on Friday as fighting put innocent lives sions rang out nearby. The their leader Abu Bakr al- “We don’t feel the end yet,
Iraqi forces slowly squeezed in even greater danger. neighborhoods where gov- Baghdadi had proclaimed to be honest. q

Lebanon: Suicide attackers

near Syria border kill 1 girl

Associated Press security sweep earned the
BEIRUT (AP) — Explosions, in- Lebanese military much
cluding five suicide bomb- praise. But they also stirred
ings, shook a Lebanese up a storm among Syr-
border town early on Fri- ian activists after pictures
day, killing a Syrian girl and surfaced of rows of de-
wounding seven Lebanese tainees with their faces to
soldiers as the army raid- the ground, many bare-
ed several refugee settle- chested and their hands
ments, the military said. cuffed. The Britain-based
The Lebanese army has Syrian Observatory for Hu-
been battling militants who man Rights called for their
have thrived in the border immediate release.
area with Syria during its The military said one sui-
war, now in its seventh year. cide attacker blew himself
Tiny Lebanon of 4.5 million up among a family of Syr-
people has been grappling ian refugees during the raid
with an influx of over a mil- in al-Nour settlement, kill-
lion Syrian refugees who ing the girl. Also in al-Nour,
escaped violence at home three soldiers were wound-
to find refuge in the neigh- ed when a suicide bomber
boring country. detonated his suicide belt
The raids and a subsequent near them. q