Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 12 March 2019
Iran's Rouhani seeks to boost ties on first visit to Baghdad

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA persecuted by Saddam's
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iranian government. Iran's former
President Hassan Rouhani hard-line President Mah-
was in Baghdad on Mon- moud Ahmadinejad be-
day, making his first official came the first Iranian presi-
visit to the nation that Teh- dent to visit Iraq on a trip in
ran once fought a bloody 2008.
war against and later Iraq and Iran share a
backed in the battle with 1,400-kilometer-long (870
the Islamic State group. miles) border. Trump made
Since Rouhani's election in a snap December trip to
2013, Iraq has relied on Ira- Iraq and made comments
nian paramilitary support that U.S. forces should stay
to fight IS, following the in Iraq to keep an eye on
militant group's capture of Iran, something dismissed
the Iraqi city of Mosul and by both Iran and Iraqi lead-
other territory in both Iraq ers, whom Trump did not
and Syria. meet on the visit.
Now with the militants fac- Speaking at Tehran's Meh-
ing a final territorial de- rabad Airport before leav-
feat in the Syrian village of ing for Iraq, Rouhani's of-
Baghouz, Iran is looking for ficial website quoted him
Iraq's continued support as as saying the trip's goal was
it faces a maximalist pres- Iraqi President Barham Salih, right, walks with visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, before "deepening bilateral rela-
sure campaign by Presi- their meeting at Salam Palace in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 11, 2019. tions."
dent Donald Trump after his Associated Press "Relations between Iran
decision to withdraw Amer- and Iraq are special," Rou-
ica from Tehran's nuclear self, paused to reach out Iran for its support during his visit. hani was quoted as saying.
deal with world powers. and touch the gate sur- Iraq's fight against IS. Rouhani's visit underscores "In the recent years, the
Rouhani, who is accompa- rounding the imam's tomb. "The victory that was how much has changed people of Iran have passed
nied on the three-day visit He then met President achieved against IS group since the 1980s, when Iraqi a test with pride, and that
by a high-ranking political Barham Salih and spoke in Iraq was an important dictator Saddam Hussein is wherever the peoples of
and economic delega- to journalists, telling them and huge victory, but in- invaded Iran, sparking an the region faced a prob-
tion, was received by an that a "stable Iraq will lead complete as the eradica- eight-year war that killed lem and asked for the help
honor guard on landing in to stability in the entire re- tion of that sick, deviated an estimated 1 million peo- of the Iranian nation and
Baghdad, where he was gion." line of thought and extrem- ple. After the 2003 U.S.-led government, we rushed to
welcomed by Iraqi Foreign "We want to be united ism require more sustain- invasion of Iraq toppled help them."
Minister Mohammed Ali Al- countries, not against oth- able regional efforts and Saddam, Iran began a Rouhani, who had visited
Hakim. ers, but attracting others to cooperation," Salih said. campaign of backing mili- Iraq privately before be-
Rouhani then visited the our unity," Rouhani said. Rouhani was to later meet tants who targeted Ameri- coming president, had
shrine of Imam Kadhim, For his part, Salih said Bagh- Prime Minister Abel Abdul- can forces in Iraq. planned an official visit in
the seventh of 12 clerics re- dad's central location Mehdi. He plans on meet- Tehran also made political 2016 but it was cancelled
vered by Shiites worldwide. made it crucial to resolving ing with other politicians connections with Iraq's Shi- over unspecified "execu-
Rouhani, a Shiite cleric him- regional issues. He thanked and Shiite leaders during ite leaders, who had been tive" problems.q

US-backed fighters make limited advances against IS in Syria

made slow advances into believed to be still in the field," Bali said. He said so
the edge of the last village territory, along with pos- far there had been no SDF
held by the Islamic State sibly 3,000 to 4,000 civil- casualties.
group, battling militants ians, including women and The Britain-based Syr-
holed up in underground children — mainly fam- ian Observatory for Human
tunnels, a spokesman for ily members who remained Rights, a war monitor, said
the force said Monday. after thousands of civilians SDF fighters captured sev-
The battle opened Sunday streamed out of Baghouz in en IS gunmen in Baghouz
evening with large explo- past week during pauses in since Sunday.
sions and mushroom clouds the fighting. A senior U.S. defense offi-
rising into the air over Bag- Mustafa Bali of the Kurdish- cial said in Washington on
houz, on the Euphrates led SDF told The Associated Friday that it would not be
River in eastern Syria, as the Press that the forces were a surprise, based on cur-
Syrian Democratic Forces moving cautiously on the rent conditions, if it took
battered the village with ground, adding that the another couple of weeks
artillery and gunfire, hitting militants were dug in and to finish "mopping up" the
In this Sunday, March 10, 2019 photo, U.S.-backed Syrian forces an IS ammunition dump. hiding into tunnels. The IS enclave. The capture of
stand guard as civilians wounded by airstrikes, during an offen- On Monday morning, the area is also believed to be Baghouz would be a mile-
sive on the last area held by Islamic State group extremists in
Syria's eastern Deir el-Zour province near the Iraqi border, out- thuds of renewed artillery laced with land minds and stone in the devastating
side of Baghouz, Syria. and heavy weapons fire booby traps. four-year campaign to de-
Associated Press could be heard. An air- "If as we advance, we no- feat the group's so-called
strike hit the IS-held pocket tice there are civilians, we "caliphate" that once cov-
By PHILIP ISSA BAGHOUZ, Syria (AP) — around noon. will do all we can to evacu- ered a vast territory strad-
Associated Press U.S.-backed Syrian forces Some 500 IS fighters are ate them from the battle- dling both Syria and Iraq.q