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A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 2 May 2017
US-backed fighters retake more areas from IS in Syrian town

lines in March was a turning main Kurdish militias known
point in the Tabqa offen- as the People’s Protec-
sive and underscored the tion Units, or YPG, and the
closeness between Wash- Women’s Protection Units,
ington and the SDF. or YPJ.
The Kurdish-led group said NATO member Turkey car-
in a statement Monday ried out strikes against the
that its fighters captured YPG last week, killing at
three more neighborhoods least 20 fighters. The spiral-
in Tabqa, where they have ing tensions led the U.S. to
been advancing since deploy troops along the
mid-April. Syrian-Turkish border as a
The Britain-based Syr- way of preventing further
ian Observatory for Hu- violence between the two
man Rights said IS fighters allies.
withdrew from the Tabqa An SDF official meanwhile
neighborhood known as expressed optimism that
Thawra City. It said Mon- the battle for Tabqa might
day’s fighting is concen- be won in the coming
trated in the only two re- hours. “Daesh is retreat-
maining IS-held neighbor- ing from most of Tabqa’s
hoods, near the dam. neighborhoods,” Brig. Gen.
The Observatory said SDF Hussam al-Awwak, an Arab
This photo shows a fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) carrying weapons as he looks fighters now control some spokesman for the SDF, told
toward the northern town of Tabqa, Syria. U.S.-backed opposition fighters led by Syrian Kurdish 80 percent of Tabqa. It The Associated Press by
forces captured more territory from the Islamic State group in the northern town of Tabqa on Mon- added that 35 IS mem- telephone, using an Arabic
day, pushing the extremists to northern neighborhoods, close to one of Syria’s largest dams.
(Syrian Democratic Forces, via AP) bers have been killed there acronym for the extremist
since Sunday. group.
BASSEM MROUE ern neighborhoods close to The Kurdish-led Syrian Dem- The SDF is made up of sev- “Daesh fighters are almost
Associated Press one of Syria’s largest dams. ocratic Forces is the most eral Arab, Kurdish, Turkmen finished in Taqba,” he said.
BEIRUT (AP) — U.S.-backed Tabqa is an important effective ground force bat- and Christian groups that Elsewhere Syria, oppo-
opposition fighters led by stronghold for the militants, tling IS in Syria and will most have captured wide ar- sition activists reported
Syrian Kurdish forces cap- located about 40 kilome- likely lead the offensive to eas of northern Syria from government attacks on
tured more territory from ters (25 miles) southeast capture Raqqa in the near IS over the past year under rebel-held areas, including
the Islamic State group of their de facto capital, future. the cover of U.S.-led coali- eastern suburbs of Damas-
in the northern town of Raqqa, and lies next to the A U.S. airlift of artillery and tion airstrikes. The largest cus, where rival insurgent
Tabqa on Monday, push- IS-held Tabqa Dam on the special forces advisers that and most powerful groups groups have clashed re-
ing the extremists to north- Euphrates River. placed them behind IS in the coalition are the cently. q
Yemen: Al-Qaida leader says AQAP
fought alongside US-backed forces

MAGGIE MICHAEL Malahem from an undis-
Associated Press closed location in Yemen.
CAIRO (AP) — The leader of “We fight along all Muslims
al-Qaida’ branch in Yemen in Yemen, together with
said that his militants have different Islamic groups,”
often fought alongside he said, adding that his
Yemeni government fac- followers have teamed
tions — remarks that could up with an array of fac-
embarrass the U.S.-backed tions — including the ultra-
coalition fighting the im- conservative Salafis, “the
poverished Arab country’s Muslim Brotherhood and
Shiite rebels. Qasim al-Rimi also our brothers among
leads the group known as the sons of (Sunni) tribes”
Al-Qaida in the Arabian — against Yemen’s Shiite
Peninsula, considered by rebels known as Houthis.
Washington to be the most Al-Rimi did not elaborate
dangerous offshoot of the on what exactly fighting
global terror network. He “alongside” meant but al-
succeeded Nasir al-Wu- Qaida has emerged as a
hayshi, who was killed in a de facto ally of the gov-
U.S. drone strike nearly two ernment of President Abed
years ago. On the U.S. most- Rabbo Mansour Hadi and
wanted list with a $5 million his backers Saudi Arabia
reward for his capture, al- and the United Arab Emir-
Rimi has been a top tar- ates against the Houthis
get of U.S. airstrikes, which in a grueling civil war that
have soared in the past has wreaked devastation,
four months in southern Ye- caused widespread hun-
men. He spoke on Sunday ger and killed more than
to AQAP’s media arm al- 10,000 since late 2014. q