Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Monday 27 March 2017
US acknowledges its forces were behind airstrike on Mosul

SINAN SALAHEDDIN not abandon our commit- for those wounded. aged to capture more campaigned on a promise
Associated Press ment to our Iraqi partners “It is our understanding than 1,300” cases. to dramatically ramp up
BAGHDAD (AP) — An air- because of ISIS’s inhuman that there was an incident “When you take a better the assault on Islamic State
strike targeting Islamic tactics terrorizing civilians, and we have worked with look at what those numbers militants and has vowed to
State militants in the Iraqi eradicate it.
city of Mosul that witnesses U.S. Secretary of State Rex
say killed at least 100 peo- Tillerson and U.S. Defense
ple was in fact launched Secretary Jim Mattis met
by the U.S. military, Ameri- in recent days with Iraqi
can officials said this week- Prime Minister Haider al-
end. Ababi and foreign ministers
U.S. officials did not con- from the coalition partners
firm the reports of civilian at the State Department to
casualties but opened an explore new ideas to ex-
investigation. In the days pand the fight against IS in
following the March 17 air- Mosul.
strike, U.S. officials had said Earlier Saturday, senior
they were unsure whether Sunni Muslim politicians
American forces were be- expressed concern over
hind the attack. reports of airstrikes that al-
The statement issued by legedly killed the civilians.
the U.S.-led coalition said Residents reported two air-
the airstrike had been re- strikes hitting a residential
quested by Iraqi security area on March 13 and 17.
forces to target IS fighters The Iraqi Defense Ministry
and equipment “at the has provided no immedi-
location corresponding to ate comment.
allegations of civilian ca- In tweets published on his
sualties.” U.S.-backed gov- Residents carry the body of several people killed during fights between Iraq security forces and official account, parlia-
Islamic State on the western side of Mosul, Iraq. Residents of the Iraqi city’s neighborhood known
ernment troops were fight- as Mosul Jidideh at the scene say that scores of residents are believed to have been killed by ment speaker Salim al-
ing IS forces in that area of airstrikes that hit a cluster of homes in the area earlier this month. Jabouri said “we realize
western Mosul, the state- (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) the huge responsibility the
ment said. liberating forces shoulder”
The coalition said it takes using human shields, and the local health actors and mean, what is worrying for and call on them to “spare
all allegations of civilian fighting from protected they have confirmed more the WHO and aid actors no effort to save the civil-
casualties seriously and a sites such as schools, hos- than 100 are dead,” Mu- is that roughly 30 percent ians.”
formal Civilian Casualty pitals, religious sites and ci- sani said. of the total numbers are In a statement issued on
Credibility Assessment had vilian neighborhoods,” the Musani said that since the women,” he said. “Roughly his website, Vice President
been opened to deter- coalition said. operations in Mosul began 30 percent of that large Osama al-Nujaifi, himself
mine the facts surrounding Altaf Musani, representa- in October, there have number are children un- from Mosul, described the
this strike and the validity tive of the World Health Or- been at least 5,300 people der 15, and that is deeply incident as a “humanitar-
of the allegation of civilian ganization in Iraq, told The referred to hospitals in and concerning because of ian catastrophe,” blaming
casualties. Associated Press in the Jor- around the city. He added the capacities needed to the U.S.-led coalition air-
“Our goal has always been danian capital of Amman that since the attack on treat those wounded com- strikes and excessive use of
for zero civilian casual- that the organization’s pri- western Mosul began last ing out of the front lines.” force by militarized Federal
ties, but the coalition will ority was quick treatment month, “we have man- President Donald Trump Police forces. q

US-backed forces capture Syrian air base from IS

PHILIP ISSA ferried hundreds of SDF the base, in a mass killing their furniture. Tabqa Dam the activist-run Raqqa 24
Associated Press forces, as well as U.S. mili- recorded and distributed is 40 kilometers (25 miles) media center.
BEIRUT (AP) — U.S.-backed tary advisers and U.S. artil- on video over social media. upstream of Raqqa on the Raqqa 24 said engineers
Syrian Kurdish forces cap- lery, behind IS lines earlier The Britain-based Syr- Euphrates River. employed by the militants
tured a strategically impor- this week. ian Observatory for Human U.S.-led coalition forces had restored power to
tant air base from Islamic The airlift was a major de- Rights monitoring group said the dam was structur- the dam’s gates and the
State militants in north Syria velopment to the SDF’s also reported the SDF ad- ally sound. structure was functioning
on Sunday in the first major multi-front campaign to vance. U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish normally.The reports from
victory for the group since bear down on Raqqa, as Meanwhile there were con- forces were in control of a Raqqa came as a lead-
the U.S. airlifted the forces U.S.-backed Iraqi forces flicting reports over wheth- spillway north of the dam ing Syrian opposition group
behind enemy lines four simultaneously press their er civilians had begun “which can be used to alle- called on the U.S.-led co-
days ago. assault to seize Mosul from evacuating Raqqa due to viate pressure on the dam alition to stop targeting
The Kurdish-led Syrian Dem- the militants, in neighboring concerns over the stability if need be,” the coalition residential areas in and
ocratic Forces announced Iraq. SDF forces are within of the nearby Tabqa Dam. said in a letter to The Asso- around the city.The Syr-
they had captured the 10 kilometers (6 miles) of The militants said U.S.-led co- ciated Press. ian National Coalition said
Tabqa air base, 45 kilo- Raqqa from the north. alition airstrikes had locked The coalition says the dam in a statement that it was
meters (28 miles) west of Tabqa air base was cap- up the dam’s gates, caus- has not been structurally “increasingly concerned”
Raqqa, the Islamic State tured by IS militants from ing the water level behind damaged, to its knowl- about civilian casualties in
group’s de facto capital in the Syrian government in it to rise. The activist group edge, and says it has not the campaign against the
Syria. August 2014. Shortly af- Raqqa is Being Slaughtered targeted the dam. extremist group. The exiled
The U.S., which has pro- terward, the group an- Silently reported that IS had The Observatory said there opposition coalition is tak-
vided substantial air and nounced it had killed about ordered Raqqa residents to were no evacuations hap- ing part in U.N.-mediated
ground support to the SDF, 200 government soldiers at evacuate, though without pening from Raqqa, as did talks in Geneva. q