Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 20 april 2017
Syria resumes reciprocal evacuations after deadly bombing

controlled Central Military Foua and Kfarya. Rami Ab-
Media later said an area of durrahman, the head of
about 50 square kilometers the Observatory, said more
(19 square miles) has be- evacuations from rebel-
come clear of all opposi- held areas south of Damas-
tion fighters. cus are also expected.
After repeated delays, The transfer deal is not
the first phase of the deal overseen by the United Na-
began on Friday. Some tions. Critics say the string of
thirty hours after the first evacuations, which could
two batches reached ex- see some 30,000 people
change points, a massive moved across battle lines
explosion struck near buses over the next 60 days, re-
carrying evacuees from wards siege tactics and
the pro-government ar- amounts to forced dis-
eas, killing more than 120, placement along political
mostly women and chil- and sectarian lines.
dren. Many of the rebel All four areas have been
fighters who guarded the under siege for years, their
buses were also killed. No fate linked through a series
one claimed responsibility of reciprocal agreements
This frame grab shows buses carrying opposition fighters leaving Zabadani, near Damascus, Syria, for the attack, which the that the U.N. says have hin-
Wednesday, April 19, 2017, heading toward the northern rebel-held Idlib province. Syria’s military
media says the evacuation and transfer of thousands of Syrians from four besieged areas has government blamed on dered aid deliveries.
resumed. Logo in Arabic reads, “Millitary Media.” the rebels. Residents of Madaya and
(Syrian Central Military Media, via AP) Reflecting fears of further Zabadani, formerly sum-
violence, Amer Burhan, mer resorts, joined the 2011
BEIRUT (AP) — The evacu- two pro-government vil- The opposition-run Syr- a medical worker from uprising against President
ation of thousands of Syr- lages, Foua and Kfarya, ian Observatory for Hu- Zabadani, said buses carry- Bashar Assad. Both came
ians from four besieged ar- left Wednesday in 45 buses man Rights also reported ing residents from the pro- under government siege in
eas resumed Wednesday, bound for government- the transfer, which it says government areas were the ensuing civil war.
state media and activists controlled Aleppo. An- includes 800 armed men held in the opposition ar- Residents of Foua and
said, days after a bomb- other 11 buses carrying from both sides. Some 160, eas until the busses carry- Kfarya, besieged by the
ing killed more than 120 some 500 people, includ- mostly gunmen, had re- ing rebels had departed. rebels, have lived under a
evacuees and delayed ing opposition fighters, left mained in Zabadani. Hussein al-Ragheb, a mem- steady hail of rockets and
the widely criticized popu- Madaya and Zabadani, Soon after the buses left ber of the Syrian parlia- mortars for years, but were
lation transfer. near Damascus, heading Zabadani, state TV de- ment, told state TV that an- supplied with food and
The Central Military Me- toward the northern rebel- clared the town free of other 8,000 residents have medicine through military
dia says 3,000 residents of held Idlib province. gunmen. The government- yet to be evacuated from airdrops.q
Israeli defense officials: Assad still has chemical weapons

JOSEF FEDERMAN of children. United States fired 59 mis- Defense Minister Avigdor Li- the Islamic State group and
Associated Press A senior Israeli military offi- siles at a Syrian air base eberman will fly to Moscow other insurgents have ac-
JERUSALEM (AP) — Syria cial said Israeli intelligence it said was the launching next week for talks with se- quired chemical weapons.
still has up to three tons believes Syrian military pad for the attack. Israel nior Russian officials. Dan Kaszeta, a U.K.-based
of chemical weapons, Is- commanders ordered the welcomed the strike on its Syria agreed to give up its chemical weapons expert,
raeli defense officials said attack, with Assad’s knowl- northern neighbor. The Syr- chemical weapons arsenal said the Israeli estimate ap-
Wednesday in the first spe- edge. Briefing reporters, he ian government has been to avert U.S. strikes following peared to be conserva-
cific intelligence assess- said Israel estimates Assad locked in a six-year civil war a chemical weapons at- tive, but nonetheless was
ment of President Bashar still has “between one and against an array of opposi- tack in opposition-held sub- enough to be highly lethal.
Assad’s weapons ca- three tons” of chemical tion forces. The fighting has urbs of Damascus in August “One ton of sarin could eas-
pabilities since a deadly weapons. The assessment killed an estimated 400,000 2013 that killed hundreds of ily be used to perpetrate
chemical attack earlier this was confirmed by two oth- people and displaced half people and sparked world- an attack on the scale of
month. The estimate came er Israeli defense officials. of Syria’s population. wide outrage. the 2013 attack. It could
as the head of the interna- All the officials spoke on Israel has largely stayed Ahead of that disarma- also be used for roughly 10
tional chemical weapons condition of anonymity un- out of the fighting, though ment, Assad’s government attacks of a similar size to
watchdog said laboratory der military briefing rules. it has carried out a number disclosed it had some 1,300 the recent Khan Sheikhoun
tests had provided “incon- Assad has strongly denied of airstrikes on suspected tons of chemical weapons, attack,” he said.
trovertible” evidence that he was behind the attack Iranian weapons shipments including sarin, VX nerve A fact-finding mission from
victims and survivors of the in the opposition-held town it believed were bound agent and mustard gas. the Organization for the
April 4 attack in northern of Khan Sheikhoun in Syria’s for the Lebanese militant The entire stockpile was Prohibition of Chemical
Syria were exposed to sa- northern Idlib province, group Hezbollah. Iran and said to have been disman- Weapons, an international
rin nerve gas or a similar and has accused the op- Hezbollah, both bitter en- tled and shipped out under watchdog, is investigating
banned toxin. position of trying to frame emies of Israel, along with international supervision in the April 4 incident and on
Israel, along with the United his government. Top Assad Russia have sent forces to 2014 and destroyed. But Wednesday its director-
States and much of the in- ally, Russia, has asserted support Assad. doubts began to emerge general, Ahmet Uzumcu,
ternational community, has a Syrian government air- Following Russia’s interven- soon afterward that not said that the results “from
accused Assad’s forces strike hit a rebel chemical tion in September 2015, Is- all such armaments or four OPCW designated
of carrying out the attack, weapons factory, causing rael and Moscow opened production facilities were laboratories indicate expo-
which killed at least 90 the disaster. In response a hotline to coordinate mili- declared and destroyed. sure to sarin or a sarin-like
people, including dozens to the April 4 attack, the tary activity in Syria. Israeli There also is evidence that substance.” q