Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 6 February 2018
Bloody 24 hours as Syria, Russia escalate punishing attacks

By SARAH EL DEEB hit last month in a series of
PHILIP ISSA drone attacks, challeng-
Associated Press ing Moscow's gains in the
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian oppo- country still torn by conflict.
sition rescue teams pulled Since then, activists say
babies from incubators in Russian and Syrian govern-
a hospital under attack, ment forces have stepped
rushing them to safety in a up their attacks.
pick-up truck. Elderly pa- Activists and rescue work-
tients lay motionless on ers reported at least 28 civil-
the ground and rescue ians, including six children,
workers searched for survi- were killed on Monday in
vors in the rubble of a de- Ghouta, where nearly 40
stroyed apartment building airstrikes hit the suburb that
as stepped up airstrikes by is the last opposition strong-
Syrian government forces hold in Damascus.
and their Russian allies on In Idlib, two hospitals have
the country's last remain- been hit with airstrikes since
ing rebel strongholds killed Sunday and at least 14
at least 28 civilians on Mon- people killed. Rescue work-
day. ers continued Monday to
"It is like the end of days," sift through the wreckage
said Raed Saleh, the head of a six-story building flat-
of the first-responders This photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, shows civil tened a day earlier, pulling
defense workers searching for survivors after airstrikes hit a rebel-held suburb near Damascus,
known as White Helmets, Syria, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says waves of airstrikes hit at out three bodies after day-
describing the last 24 hours least five neighborhoods in the Eastern Ghouta suburb, the only remaining rebel stronghold near light. At least eight residents
of attacks on the opposi- the capital, Damascus. remained missing when the
tion-held eastern Damas- (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP) search was suspended at
cus suburb of Ghouta and nightfall, one rescuer said.
northwestern Idlib prov- Russia has waged a pun- manitarian disaster. its fighters shot down the In Idlib, a hospital in the
ince. ishing aerial campaign "If a Russian plane was Russian jet near the town town of Kafranbel was
The escalating offensive, against Syria's armed op- downed, revenge should of Saraqeb in Idlib province bombed early Monday,
which included a suspect- position since intervening not be on civilians and and killed its pilot after he according to the activist-
ed chlorine attack a day in the civil war on the side children," Saleh said. "Now ejected from the plane. run Edlib Media Center
earlier, reached a new of its ally, President Bashar more than any other day, Rebels have previously and the Observatory. An-
ferocity after insurgents Assad, in 2015. Cease-fire we need the international claimed to have downed other hospital, in Maaret
downed a Russian Su-25 deals have failed to quell community to restore the Syrian government planes al-Numan, was struck three
over the weekend, the first the violence or restore hu- humanity it has lost in Syria." or drones, but it was the first times late Sunday and put
time they scored such a manitarian aid to besieged The al-Qaida-linked Le- time they hit a Russian air- out of service, according to
major hit against the gov- Ghouta, were 400,000 resi- vant Liberation Commit- craft. the Syrian American Medi-
ernment's main ally, Mos- dents are holed up amid tee, which is the dominant Russia's military bases in cal Society, which runs the
cow. warnings of a looming hu- militant group in Idlib, said western Syria were also facility. q

IS attacks suspect Abdeslam defies court in first appearance

By LORI HINNANT any questions. I was asked side a second defendant,
Associated Press to come. I came," said Ab- Sofiane Ayari. The judge's
BRUSSELS (AP) — The man deslam, who stayed seat- questions Monday were
accused of being a would- ed for the hearing, flanked oriented toward establish-
be Islamic State attacker by police in balaclavas. "I ing which of the two also
who was once Europe's defend myself by keeping fired on officers during the
most wanted fugitive de- silent." shootout. Federal prosecu-
fied a Belgian court Mon- Asked why he was refusing tors in Belgium are seeking
day, refusing to rise or an- to stand, Abdeslam said: 20-year prison sentences for
swer questions during his "I'm tired, I did not sleep." both men, formally citing a
first public appearance Abdeslam, now with a full terrorist link in the shootout.
since his arrest nearly two beard and longer hair than Abdeslam has previously
years ago. in pictures released before refused to speak to investi-
Salah Abdeslam is facing his March 18, 2016 arrest, gators in France about the
attempted murder charg- refused to answer questions attack there that killed 130
es in Brussels from a police beyond a few formalities on Nov. 13, 2015. In the af-
shootout four months after and stared straight ahead termath, Abdeslam slipped
the Paris attacks. Abdeslam Belgian lawyer Sven Mary arrives for the trial of Salah Abdeslam for much of the hearing. through a police dragnet
at the Brussels Justice Palace in Brussels on Monday, Feb. 5,
and an accomplice fled 2018. "Muslims are judged and and for four months stayed
while another man sprayed (Emmanuel Dunand, Pool Photo via AP) treated without pity. There in a series of hideouts with
automatic gunfire and was is no presumption of inno- Ayari and other jihadis. By
killed. The pair was cap- Abdeslam arrived in the at the Brussels courthouse, cence," he said. "I'm not then, his photo along with
tured a few days later in the Belgian capital Monday with armed guards and afraid of you. I'm not afraid the dire warning "armed
same neighborhood where morning after being trans- multiple checkpoints lead- of your allies. I place my and dangerous" was plas-
Abdeslam and many of the ferred from a prison in ing to the courtroom. faith in Allah." tered throughout Europe.
dead attackers grew up. France. Security was high "I do not wish to respond to He is being tried along- q