Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 4 November 2017
Assaults in Syria and Iraq oust IS from border bastions

By ALBERT AJI while two Russian subma- ian TV. He used an Arabic largest city in eastern Syria ernment said.
ZEINA KARAM rines in the Mediterranean name for IS in the broad- and the capital of the oil- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider
Associated Press also launched six cruise cast. rich province of the same al-Abdi congratulated
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — missiles at IS targets. Video broadcast on state- name. It is also the larg- Iraqi forces on retaking
Syrian troops ousted Islam- The Syrian Observatory for run media showed the last est city to be recaptured Qaim just over a week af-
ic State extremists Friday ter the operation began.
from Deir el-Zour, a major In a statement from his of-
city in eastern Syria, while fice, al-Abadi described
Iraqi forces retook Qaim, the victory as taking place
the group’s last big town in “record time.”
across the border in Iraq, Earlier in the day, Iraqi forc-
in simultaneous assaults es also retook the nearby
that dealt further territorial Husaybah border crossing
losses to the retreating mili- with Syria, according to
tants. the prime minister’s office.
With their self-proclaimed Qaim, about 320 kilome-
“caliphate” crumbling, the ters (200 miles) west of
extremists have lost almost Baghdad in the Euphra-
all their urban strongholds tes River Valley, has been
in Syria and Iraq. used by IS to move fighters
The defeats left the Syrian and supplies between the
town of Boukamal as the two countries at the height
only urban area still com- of the caliphate, when IS
pletely under IS control, held nearly a third of both
along with scattered pock- Iraq and Syria.The extrem-
ets of territory along the This frame grab from a video released on Nov. 2, 2017 by the Syrian official news agency SANA ist group has lost more than
Syria-Iraq border. shows smoke and debris rising after Syrian government shelling of the Deir el-Zour city during a 96 percent of the territory
Syrian troops backed by battle against Islamic State militants, Syria. The Syrian army announced on Friday, Nov. 3 it liber- it once held across both
Russia and Kurdish-led ated the long-contested eastern city of Deir el-Zour from the Islamic State group. (SANA via AP) countries in 2014 and 2015,
forces supported by the the height of the caliph-
United States are now Human Rights reported moments of the ferocious by the Syrian government ate. Those losses include
racing toward Boukamal that shelling from the Iraqi fighting in Deir el-Zour, in- from IS. Iraq’s second-largest city
from opposite sides of the side of the border hit the cluding shelling by Syrian Mayhoub described it as of Mosul, which it lost
Euphrates River, trigger- small Syrian town of Abug- tanks and plumes of smoke the “last phase” of the mili- in July, and Raqqa, the
ing concerns that a proxy haz, near Boukamal. Civil- rising over the city’s mostly tary’s campaign toward group’s one-time de facto
showdown could ensue ians were forced to flee, destroyed neighborhoods the annihilation of IS in capital in northern Syria,
between the two sides. but no casualties from the of Jamiayat and Jabiliyeh Syria. He hailed the city’s which it lost last month.The
Both the U.S. and Russia shelling were reported, the before they were liber- recapture as a strategic militants, routed from one
have embedded special Britain-based group said. ated.The recapture of Deir win, noting its location on urban stronghold after an-
forces with their respective “With the loss of Deir el- el-Zour on the west bank a crossroads linking the other, have recently been
partners and are support- Zour, Daesh loses its ability of the Euphrates is another country’s eastern, north- moving deeper into Syria’s
ing their advances with to lead terrorist operations victory for President Bashar ern and central regions, remote desert, where they
airstrikes. Maj. Gen. Igor by its militants who are now Assad’s forces and his Rus- as well as an “oil and gas are believed to be re-
Konashenkov, a spokes- isolated and encircled sian and Iranian allies. Deir reservoir” — a reference to grouping and preparing to
man for the Russian De- eastern countryside of the el-Zour, which had been di- the province.In Iraq, troops return to guerrilla-style tac-
fense Ministry, said six Tu- city,” said Gen. Ali May- vided into a government- recaptured the town of tics, including scattered
22M bombers struck IS houb, declaring victory in held and an IS-held part Qaim across the border hit-and-run attacks and
targets near Boukamal, a statement read on Syr- for nearly three years, is the from Boukamal, the gov- suicide bombings.q
Israeli army says ready to help Druze under attack in Syria

By IAN DEITCH prevent damage or occu- the Druze community both lier in the day, the military der, but is believed to have
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel pation of the village out of in Israel and Syria. He said said. carried out airstrikes on sus-
issued a rare warning Fri- a commitment to the Druze 15 people were killed and Later, it said dozens of pected weapons convoys
day that it would intervene population.” 45 wounded, including ci- Druze marched to the fron- from Syria to its archene-
militarily if necessary to de- The warning came after a vilians, in the attack on Ha- tier with Syria and tried to my Hezbollah, the Iranian-
fend a Druze village on the suicide bombing targeted dar Friday. breach the security fence. backed Lebanese Shiite
Syrian side of the Golan the outskirts of Hadar in the Syrian state news agency The military said forces militant group which has
Heights after it came under southern Syrian province of SANA had earlier reported brought back some who members fighting along-
attack. Quneitra. that least six people were managed to cross over. side Syrian government
The Druze village of Hadar An Israeli Druze lawmaker in killed and 21 wounded in The Druze in Israel are part forces. Israel captured the
is aligned with the Syrian Israel’s parliament, Akram the attack, while the Brit- of the country’s Arab mi- Golan Heights from Syria in
government, creating an Hasson, said four of his rela- ain-based Syrian Observa- nority. the 1967 Mideast War and
unusual scenario if Israel tives died in the attack Fri- tory for Human Rights put They are full citizens of Is- the two countries remain
does indeed deploy forces day by the Fatah al-Sham the death toll at seven rael and generally serve in enemies.
to defend it as Syria and Is- Front (formerly Nusra Front), and said 23 people were the army. They also have Speaking on a visit to Lon-
rael are bitter enemies. an al-Qaida-linked group wounded. a large community in Syria don, Israeli Prime Minister
Military spokesman Ronen fighting in Syria’s civil war. An Israeli man from a Dru- with many loyal to the Syr- Benjamin Netanyahu said
Manelis said in a Facebook He told Channel 10 TV that ze area in Israel was lightly ian government. “We are also guarding
post that the army is “pre- his clan comprises about 40 wounded by stray fire from Israel has mostly stayed out our borders... We are also
pared and ready to assist percent of the village. across the border amid “in- of Syria’s civil war that’s maintaining our admiration
residents of the village and He said it is “a dark day” for tense fighting” in Syria, ear- raging near its northern bor- for our Druze brothers.” q