Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 31 OcTOber 2017
UN says aid convoy reaches besieged Damascus suburb in Syria

PHILIP ISSA ernment blockade. 350,000 people in need lines, announced it had Al Hussein called the siege
Associated Press The U.N.’s humanitarian in the eastern Ghouta re- completed its measles vac- “an outrage.” At least 11
BEIRUT (AP) — The U.N. agency, the World Food gion, according to U.N. cination campaign in East- people were killed by gov-
reached thousands of be- Program, and the Syr- figures. It is one of the last ern Ghouta. It said it had ernment shelling on Sun-
leaguered Syrians with ian Arab Red Crescent an- remaining pockets of op- vaccinated 48,000 children day, including on a kinder-
emergency food relief for nounced that they were position to Syrian President over two drives, in May and garten in the town of Kafr
the first time in over a month able to reach the eastern Bashar Assad and depends October this year. Photos of Batna.
on Monday, amid warnings Ghouta suburbs of Damas- on relief and smuggling to children gaunt with hunger “The people here do not
that conditions outside the cus with enough food for survive an enduring gov- in eastern Ghouta shocked want assistance, they want
Syrian capital have dete- 40,000 people. ernment siege. The Syrian observers last week, and someone to break the
riorated to desperate levels The supplies cover only a Arab Red Crescent, which U.N. High Commissioner for blockade and stop the
under a suffocating gov- fraction of the estimated operates across conflict Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad shelling. q

Gaza tunnel into Israel discovered and detonated

By ARON HELLER most of the fatalities were
Associated Press from smoke and the opera-
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Is- tion was not intended to
raeli military said it discov- kill any of the militants who
ered and detonated a died in Gaza.
militant tunnel on Monday Israel has long claimed
that was dug from Gaza Hamas has been investing
into Israel, in a rare flare-up in new tunnels since the last
along the tense border that war to attack Israel rather
has remained largely quiet than helping its own peo-
since a 2014 war with Ga- ple recover.
za’s Hamas rulers. The military’s discovery fol-
Military spokesman Lt. Col. lowed word from the Unit-
Jonathan Conricus said ed Nation’s refugee agen-
thanks to groundbreaking cy that it had found what
technology this “active appeared to be a tunnel
tunnel,” which was still be- burrowed beneath one of
ing dug, was discovered the schools it operates in
and forces blew it up inside the Gaza Strip. Christopher
Israeli territory. He said mili- Gunness, a spokesman for
tary intelligence had been the United Nations Relief
tracking it for some time. and Works Agency, said
He called it a “grave and Israeli soldier jumps of a tank near the border with Gaza Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The Israeli military in a statement that the or-
unacceptable violation said it discovered and detonated a militant tunnel on Monday that was dug from Gaza into Israel, ganization “robustly inter-
of Israeli sovereignty” and in a rare flare-up along the tense border that has remained largely quiet since a 2014 war with vened with relevant parties
that Israel holds Hamas re- Gaza’s Hamas rulers. to protest the violation.”
sponsible for the breach of (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov) Israel’s military body re-
its territory. Conricus said ties as members of the Ira- to them. “Those who try to did not manage to reach sponsible for governing
the assumption is there are nian-backed militant group harm us, we harm them,” civilian areas, the infiltra- Palestinian affairs noted
more tunnels boring into Is- Islamic Jihad. Hamas said said Israeli Prime Minister tions terrified the local pop- UNRWA’s condemnation,
rael aimed at attacking its one of its members died Benjamin Netanyahu. “To- ulation. Israel destroyed 32 adding that “Hamas is lying
soldiers and citizens. when he entered the tun- day we detected a tunnel tunnels during that conflict, not only to the world but to
Ashraf al-Kidra, a Gaza nel to evacuate wounded and destroyed it and we and since then has made the people of Gaza.”
Health Ministry spokesman, militants. will continue to do so.” neutralizing the tunnel President Donald Trump’s
said seven people were Hamas had no comment During the 2014 war, threat a top priority. special Mideast envoy Ja-
killed. At least nine wound- on the Israeli strike but Is- Hamas militants on several Military spokesman Ronen son Greenblatt took to Twit-
ed were evacuated from lamic Jihad militants pre- occasions made their way Manelis said it was a defen- ter to rail against Hamas,
the tunnel area to hospital. vented journalists from film- into Israel through a tunnel sive operation in Israeli ter- which the United States like
Witnesses at the hospital ing at the scene, suggest- network that caught Israel ritory aimed at putting the most of the West considers
identified five of the casual- ing the tunnel belonged off guard. Although they tunnel out of order. He said a terrorist organization.q
Iraqi militia commander brushes off US call to disband

By SUSANNAH GEORGE handis, who once battled say they cannot operate His real name is Jamal of that country’s emir in
Associated Press U.S. troops and is now the without the support of the Jaafar Ibrahim, but he’s still the early 1980s, for which
BAGHDAD (AP) — With the deputy head of the state- Hashd,” he added, using a better known by his nom he was convicted in ab-
Islamic State group driven sanctioned Popular Mobili- shortened Arabic term for de guerre, and his rise to sentia. But like many Shiite
from nearly all of Iraq, U.S. zation Forces, says they are the paramilitary force. the top ranks of Iraq’s secu- militants, he returned to
officials have suggested here to stay. In the years after the 2003 rity apparatus reflects the Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led
that the thousands of main- “The future of the (PMF) is U.S.-led invasion, al-Mu- long, slow decline of U.S. invasion.
ly Shiite paramilitary fighters to defend Iraq,” he told The handis led the Hezbollah influence over the country. Two years later, he was
who mobilized against the Associated Press in his first Brigades, a feared Shiite He participated in the even elected to parlia-
Sunni extremists three years extensive interview with a militia with close ties to Iran bombing of Western em- ment, before being forced
ago lay down their arms. Western media outlet. “The and the Lebanese militant bassies in Kuwait and the to step down under Ameri-
But Abu Mahdi al-Mu- Iraqi army and Iraqi police group of the same name. attempted assassination can pressure.q