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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 1 February 2022
U.S.-allied Syria force says it foiled major IS comeback plot

By ZEINA KARAM once again,” Ahmad said.
Associated Press She also accused neigh-
BEIRUT (AP) — A U.S.- boring Turkey, an archen-
backed Kurdish-led force emy of the Kurds, of facili-
said Monday that a prison tating and assisting in the
overrun by the Islamic State organization of the prison
group in northeastern Syria attack but did not provide
was now fully under its con- evidence.
trol, thwarting a danger- Ahmad said the attack
ous plot by the extremists demonstrated the need for
to launch further, multiple radical solutions to the on-
attacks across the volatile going presence of tens of
region. thousands of IS detainees
It also appealed for the in- and their families in north-
ternational community’s eastern Syria, as well as ex-
help in taking responsibility pediting the trial and pros-
for the tens of thousands of ecution of IS terrorists.
IS fighters and their families In Washington, State De-
in detention centers and partment spokesperson
camps under its control. Ned Price commended the
The Syrian Democratic U.S. band Syrian Democratic Forces soldiers search for Islamic State militants in Hassakeh, Syria, SDF for their effective re-
Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022.
Forces said more than 120 Associated Press sponse to the prison attack.
of their fighters and prison IS’s “desperate and vio-
workers died in the 10-day flee. The fighting drew in press conference Monday, sakeh, the town of Shad- lent tactics are a grave
standoff at the Gweiran the U.S.-led coalition, which SDF commander Nowruz dada and areas of Deir reminder to the world that
prison, also known as al- carried out airstrikes and Ahmad said the IS prison el-Zour in eastern Syria. Also the terrorist group remains
Sinaa prison, which houses deployed American per- attack aimed at liberating planned were simultane- a threat that can and must
at least 3,000 Islamic State sonnel in Bradley Fighting a number of terrorist de- ous attacks on the al-Hol be defeated,” he said in a
group detainees. Some 374 Vehicles to the scene. tainees, but also was part camp, which houses thou- statement.
IS militants, including the It was the biggest military of a broader plot that IS sands of families of IS mem- “Due to the effective re-
initial attackers, were also operation by the extremist had been preparing for a bers. sponse of the SDF, in part-
killed, it added. group since the fall of its self- long time. “They (IS) wanted to launch nership with U.S. and Co-
The Jan. 20 assault on one declared caliphate in 2019 According to seized docu- a massive attack on the re- alition forces, senior ISIS
of the largest detention fa- and came as the militants ments and confessions gion, and once again to leaders were captured or
cilities in Syria has turned staged deadly attacks in of some of the attackers, spread their terror and im- killed during the attempt
the city of Hassakeh into a both Syria and Iraq that the extremist group had pose darkness on the peo- to free detained ISIS mem-
conflict zone and forced stoked fears that IS may be planned attacks on other ple of the region and revive bers from detention” he
thousands of residents to staging a comeback. At a neighborhoods in Has- the terrorist organization added.q

Israel calls on Amnesty not to release

apartheid report

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on expects intensified efforts nation state of the Jewish
Monday called on Amnes- this year to brand it as an people.”
ty International not to pub- apartheid state in interna- “Its extremist language and
lish an upcoming report tional bodies and hopes to distortion of historical con-
accusing it of apartheid, head them off. text were designed to de-
saying the conclusions of In a statement issued Mon- monize Israel and pour fuel
the London-based interna- day, he said Amnesty “is onto the fire of antisemi-
tional human rights group just another radical orga- tism,” it added.
are “false, biased and an- nization which echoes pro- Neither Human Rights
tisemitic.” paganda, without seriously Watch nor B’Tselem com- Palestinians use a ladder to climb over the separation barrier
with Israel on their way to pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque in
Amnesty is expected to join checking the facts,” and pared Israel to South Africa, Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Al-
the New York-based Hu- that it “echoes the same where an apartheid system Ram, north of Jerusalem, July 11, 2014.
man Rights Watch and the lies shared by terrorist orga- based on white suprema- Associated Press
Israeli rights group B’Tselem nizations.” cy and racial segregation
in accusing Israel of the in- “Israel isn’t perfect, but we was in place from 1948 un- aimed at preserving a Jew- territories. After last year’s
ternational crime of apart- are a democracy commit- til the early 1990s. Instead, ish majority in as much of Gaza war, the U.N. Hu-
heid based on its nearly 55- ted to international law, they evaluate Israel’s poli- the land as possible by sys- man Rights Council set up
year military occupation of open to criticism, with a cies based on international tematically denying basic a permanent commission
lands the Palestinians want free press and a strong and conventions like the Rome rights to Palestinians. Israel of inquiry to investigate
for a future state and be- independent judicial sys- Statute, which defines says its policies are aimed abuses in Israel, the West
cause of its treatment of its tem,” Lapid said. apartheid as “an institution- at ensuring the survival and Bank and Gaza, including
own Arab minority. Amnesty did not immedi- alized regime of systematic security of the world’s only “systematic discrimination
Israel dismissed the other ately respond to a request oppression and domination Jewish state. The Interna- and repression based on
reports as biased, but is for comment. by one racial group over tional Criminal Court is al- national, ethnic, racial or
adopting a much more The Foreign Ministry said in any other racial group.” ready investigating poten- religious identity.” Israel has
adversarial stance this time a statement that Amnesty’s They argue that Israel’s tial war crimes committed accused both the ICC and
around. Foreign Minister report “denies the state of various policies in the ter- by Israel and Palestinian the U.N. rights body of be-
Yair Lapid has said Israel Israel’s right to exist as the ritories under its control are militants in the occupied ing biased against it.q