Page 10 - aruba-today-20171021

A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 21 OctOber 2017
Iraqis seize town after clashes with Kurds Devastation in Raqqa raises

By EMAD MATTI Altun Kupri and enter the “I saw homes were hit by questions on cost of victory
PHILIP ISSA country’s autonomous shelling,” said Mohammed By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press Kurdish region. Sadreddine, an employee ZEINA KARAM
ALTUN KUPRI, Iraq (AP) — Ercuman Turkmen, the PMF for the local water Associated Press
Iraqi troops seized a town BEIRUT (AP) — Kurdish-led forces on Friday declared
from Kurdish forces after a victory over the Islamic State group in Raqqa, the for-
brief but intense firefight on mer “capital” of its self-proclaimed caliphate where
Friday, capping a dramatic militants had terrorized the population for four years
week of maneuvers that — setting up a climactic last stand for the extremists in
saw the Kurds hand over the last vestiges of territory they control.
territory across northern But the spectacular devastation of the depopulated
Iraq. city raised questions about the cost of victory against
By evening, the Iraqi forces a fanatical opponent and laid bare the difficulties of
were in full control of the rebuilding areas where the jihadis put up a ferocious
town of Altun Kupri though defense, leaving scorched earth and traumatized so-
Kurdish forces, known as cieties in their wake. From Fallujah, Ramadi and Mosul
the peshmerga, were still in Iraq to Kobani, Manbij and Raqqa in Syria, protract-
shelling the town. ed military campaigns that eventually succeeded in
Altun Kupri is the latest town flushing out the militants have left behind a trail of de-
to be retaken by federal Kurdish security forces withdraw from a checkpoint in Altun struction so vast that they appeared to have been un-
Kupri, outskirts of Irbil, Iraq, Friday Oct. 20, 2017. A Baghdad
authorities from Kurdish court issued an arrest warrant for the vice president of Iraq’s dertaken with little regard for the day after.
control after Baghdad autonomous northern Kurdish region on Thursday for saying that The United Nations estimated in September that 80
made clear this week that Iraqi forces had “occupied” the disputed province of Kirkuk this percent of Raqqa, a once-vibrant metropolis on the
it was planning to roll back week. Euphrates River, was uninhabitable as a result of the
Kurdish forces’ gains during (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) years of fighting and airstrikes. Associated Press drone
their joint war against the footage taken Thursday showed bombed-out shells of
Islamic State group and commander, said from authority. He found shelter buildings and heaps of concrete slabs piled on streets
revert the border lines to inside the town that his in Kirkuk. littered with destroyed cars. Entire neighborhoods
the 2014 map of Iraq. forces were being targeted The boundaries of the were turned to rubble, with no sign of civilian life — tes-
Kurdish authorities by sniper fire. He spoke to country’s autonomous timony to the thousands of bombs dropped on the city
appeared intent on The Associated Press by Kurdish region have long mainly by U.S. warplanes.
making the Altun Kupri their phone. been a source of conflict The months of clashes and artillery shelling did not
symbolic last stand against The fight for Altun Kupri between Baghdad and spare any building, and what little of the city that re-
the more powerful Iraqi was the first instance of Irbil, the Kurdish regional mained was littered with land mines and booby traps.
army, after the peshmerga sustained clashes and capital, and the changes There was no water, electricity or health care service.
withdrew from other so- artillery fire since the Iraqi this week were the most Still, whether there was another way to wrest control of
called disputed areas force on Monday took dramatic to occur since the city from the extremists is debatable.
peacefully earlier in the back the disputed oil-rich 2014, when the peshmerga In a symbolic move on Friday, the Kurdish-led militia
week. city of Kirkuk. took over positions known as the Syrian Democratic Forces — America’s
“The Kurdistan Peshmerga At the town hospital, an abandoned by Iraqi forces main partner in liberating the city — made its formal
Forces have resisted AP reporter counted six in the face of advancing IS declaration of victory from inside the city’s stadium,
heroically in this civilians killed and 15 militants. which had been used as a huge prison and an arms
confrontation and have wounded. It was unclear The province of Kirkuk is depot by the extremists.
recorded a great honor,” how they sustained their home to Iraq’s second- An SDF commander also handed over administration
the Kurdish general wounds, or if there were greatest reserves of oil of the city to a council of local officials and tribal lead-
command said in a other casualties. and its capital, also called ers and a 3,000-strong U.S.-trained police force tasked
statement released around The town, with a population Kirkuk, is a multi-ethnic city with governance and security.
noon. of about 9,000, was mostly that is home to 1.2 million “We call upon all countries and peace-loving forces
A commander of the empty as many of the Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. and all humanitarian organizations to participate in
Iranian-backed Shiite residents have fled the Baghdad said Kurdish rebuilding the city and villages around it and help in
militia known as the fighting.A resident said he authorities had no right to removing the scars of war that were inflicted by the
Popular Mobilization had left a day previously, hold on to the city or its (IS) group,” said Talal Sillo, a senior SDF commander.
Forces, which is fighting anticipating the clashes, province, which includes But nobody is expecting aid to come rushing in. If pre-
alongside the government but had to return Friday to Altun Kupri, and which vious cities recaptured from IS are any example, only
troops, said there were no rescue his brother, who was falls outside the Kurdish a few people have trickled back and the only recon-
orders to advance beyond stuck without a vehicle. region.q struction that has happened was undertaken by pri-
vate initiative.
Egyptian official: Much of what happens next in Raqqa depends on
14 policemen killed southwest of Cairo questions with no clear answers, including how Turkey
responds, and whether the U.S. stays long enough to
stabilize the city and protect gains made by its Kurd-
By MENNA ZAKI area in the Giza governor- anonymity because he ish partners. So far, the U.S. has shown little appetite
Associated Press ate, about 135 kilometers was not authorized to talk for longer-term engagement or involvement in nation-
CAIRO (AP) — Militants (84 miles) from the Egyptian to reporters. After nightfall, building in Iraq and Syria.
killed 14 policemen and capital, after security ser- the clashes were still ongo- At a briefing in August, Brett McGurk, the top U.S. en-
wounded eight in a shoot- vices received information ing, Egypt’s state TV report- voy to the coalition battling the IS group, said no one
out during a raid Friday on on the militants’ location, ed on its official website. should look to the United States to foot the bill for long-
a militants’ hideout south- the official said. State-run MENA news term reconstruction. “This is an international problem,”
west of Cairo, an Egyptian The police also deployed agency also reported the he said. On Friday, the U.S.- led anti-IS coalition said
security official said. aircraft to confront the attack but provided a low- in a statement that Raqqa will return to local gover-
The exchange took place militants, the official said, er death toll, saying three nance and leadership and that the city’s residents
in the al-Wahat al-Bahriya speaking on condition of policemen were killed. q now have a chance to control their own future.q