Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 5 april 2018
U.S. forces in Syria seen setting up new front-line positions

By SARAH EL DEEB the joint Kurdish-Arab body
MANBIJ, Syria (AP) — A leading the U.S.-allied forc-
week ago, there was just es here, said the post went
a single house where U.S. up a week ago.
soldiers had hoisted an "We are 1 kilometer from
American flag on a hill not (the village of) Datat, the
far from a tense front line in front line. There is a new U.S.
Syria. position constructed here.
On Wednesday, there was It has been here for seven
a growing fortified position or eight days here," said the
with a perimeter of large commander, who spoke
sand barriers and barbed on condition of anonymity
wire, a new watch tower in line with the Kurdish-led
and a half-dozen armored force's regulations but goes
vehicles. by the nom de guerre of Ali
Even as U.S. President Don- Manbij.
ald Trump spoke of pulling Previously, the U.S. forces
out of Syria "very soon," an only patrolled the front
Associated Press team saw line and kept one position
American forces setting up near Manbij, but now more
front-line positions outside forces are expected at the
the strategic northern town new post, the local com-
of Manbij, west of the Eu- mander said.
phrates River. A U.S. soldier, left, sits on an armored vehicle behind a sand barrier at a newly installed position "Before, it was only patrols.
near the tense front line between the U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council and the Turkish-
The area is the scene of a backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. Now it is better," he said.
tense standoff. U.S.-backed Associated Press "It is to protect the area
Kurdish-led forces who and to ensure that there
hold Manbij are facing off place. to force size would there- other end. Inside an obser- is no attack from Turkey or
against Turkish-backed Syr- In response to an AP que- fore be normal," Pahon vation post atop a roof, a from the mercenaries in the
ian fighters. ry, Pentagon spokesman said in an email. soldier scanned the horizon area."
Turkey has vowed to retake Eric Pahon said the coali- The AP team, which was es- through binoculars. A fork- A Kurdish official on the site
Manbij and other Kurdish- tion cannot discuss specific corted by Kurdish fighters, lift was parked near some said more such posts are
held territory along the Syr- movements and locations saw that the new U.S. out- wooden planks, indicating expected to be built along
ian-Turkish border; the U.S. of forces in Syria. post was a work in progress. more work remains to be the more than 50-kilome-
troops stationed here are He said that commanders A half-dozen armored ve- done. ter front line with Turkey-
a key reason why they are are delegated the author- hicles sat on opposite sides The outpost was clearly vis- backed Syrian fighters.
holding back. ity and the responsibility of the outpost, each with ible from a main road, with Trump told reporters Tues-
The U.S.-led coalition in to position people and re- a soldier on watch. A cou- civilians and a mosque day that he expects to de-
Syria said last week that sources needed to accom- ple of soldiers at one end nearby. cide “very quickly” wheth-
there were no U.S. bases in plish the mission and to pro- plowed the ground to lay A front-line commander in er to remove the forces,
the area and that U.S. pa- tect themselves. sandbags, while another Manbij and a member of saying their primary mission
trols were not fixed in one "Occasional modifications group worked out at the the Manbij Military Council, was to defeat IS.q

Bah rain's largest oil find estimated at 80 billion barrels

By AYA BATRAWY day. The non-OPEC coun- Arabia's oil-rich coastal ar-
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- try also produces close to eas and desert. It hosts the
ates (AP) — The small is- 160,000 barrels of oil per U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
land-nation of Bahrain on day from an offshore field Bahrain is not a major oil
Wednesday announced it shares with Saudi Arabia. producer, but the new finds
the discovery of 80 billion The minister announced a have the potential to sig-
barrels of shale oil, its larg- separate discovery of gas nificantly raise the country's
est oil and gas find ever. reserves below Bahrain's profile and boost its econ-
Bahrain's oil minister and main gas reservoir, with es- omy, which has suffered
energy executives detailed timates that push deep gas double blows in recent
the find at a press con- reserves in the region to years from lower oil prices
ference, saying the tight between 10 and 20 trillion and years of unrest and
oil was discovered in the cubic feet. protests by some of the
offshore Khalij al-Bahrain Experts and officials said country's majority Shiites.
Basin, which spans some they expect the newly The country has introduced
2,000 square kilometers discovered oil field to be some austerity measures to
(770 square miles) in shal- 'on production' within five limit spending and boost
low waters off the country's In this Nov. 7, 2016, file photo, Bahraini Oil Minister Sheikh Mo- years. Bahrain started revenue, including reduc-
western coast. hammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa speaks at the annual Abu Dhabi pumping oil in 1932, be- ing some fuel subsidies and
International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference in Abu Dhabi,
The field also contains an United Arab Emirates. coming the first among its increasing taxes. Like Saudi
estimated 14 trillion cu- Associated Press Arab Gulf neighbors to pro- Arabia and the United Arab
bic feet of gas. Oil Minis- duce oil. The Arab state, Emirates, it introduced a 5
ter Sheikh Mohammed bin extracted from the Khalij dwarfs the onshore Bahrain ruled by a Sunni-led mon- percent value-added tax
Khalifa Al Khalifa said the al-Bahrain Basin is still being oil field, which produces archy, is located in the Per- this year to most goods and
amount of oil that can be studied. Still, the discovery around 45,000 barrels per sian Gulf just east of Saudi services.q