Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 18 april 2017
Clashes erupt between tribes and IS militants in Sinai

Associated Press their stronghold around the not authorized to brief the were asked not to take the moval of Islamist President
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — city of Rafah in response to media. The tribal sources road without a male rela- Mohammed Morsi in 2013
Three people were injured the kidnapping of three IS requested anonymity for tive in compliance with Is- and security forces waging
in clashes between mili- fighters by local tribes. fear of reprisal. The incident lamic law. Locals said the war against them. Militants
tants and local tribes in the The unrest started when mil- marks an escalation in ten- militants had previously in- have beheaded locals ac-
Sinai peninsula in a fight itants shot at a truck smug- sion between the two sides tercepted trucks carrying cused of collaboration with
that began when militants gling cigarettes into the over the imposition of Is- cigarettes and punished authorities and recently
shot at a truck smuggling area, where the IS imposes lamic Law in northern Sinai. passengers with flogging. stepped up their attacks
cigarettes, Egyptian secu- a strict version of Islamic Last month, female teach- Northern Sinai residents against the peninsula’s
rity officials said Monday. law that prohibits the sale ers commuting from the have been caught in a Coptic Christian minority,
The officials told The Associ- of tobacco, tribal sources region’s urban center, El- violent battle between forcing hundreds to flee fol-
ated Press that Islamic State said. The government of- Arish, to Rafah reported militant groups who have lowing a string of killings in
group militants launched ficials spoke on condition being stopped by militants expanded their activity in the city of Arish in February.
RPG attacks on Sunday in of anonymity as they were twice in one week and the Peninsula since the re- q

Government forces on the offensive in central Hama province

Levant Liberation Commit- checkpoints near the cen-
tee, launched a wide of- tral town of Salamiyeh. The
fensive on parts of Hama Observatory and state me-
province last month cap- dia said government forc-
turing several villages and es regained control of the
towns. The government checkpoints hours later.
launched a wide counter- Meanwhile, the fate of an
offensive under the cover operation to evacuate
of Russian and Syrian air- thousands of Syrians from
strikes regaining control of besieged cities loyal to
the whole area lost and both the government and
pushing ahead toward the opposition was cast in
other villages. doubt.
The Britain-based Syr- Near Damascus, a group
ian Observatory for Human of buses slated to evacu-
Rights said Syrian air force ate rebel gunmen from the
jets had conducted near- town of Zabadani pulled
ly 25 airstrikes on Tibet al- out of town without any
Imam and nearby villages passengers, a local resi-
This frame grab from video provided by the Thiqa News Agency, shows a gunman passes by the since midnight. dent said.
buses that were damaged in a blast at the Rashideen area, a rebel-controlled district outside Syrian state news agency “They’ve filled in the dirt
Aleppo city, Syria, Saturday, April 15, 2017. Government forces and their allies advanced Monday SANA quoted an unnamed berm at the entrance
in the central province of Hama under the cover of intense airstrikes, Syria’s state media and op- military official as saying to the town,” said Amer
position activists said. that troops are now at the Burhan, the director of
(Thiqa News via AP) eastern entrance of Tibet Zabadani’s only remaining
BEIRUT (AP) — Government opposition fighters and Soran, a month after Soran al-Imam after capturing hospital. He was scheduled
forces and their allies ad- militants, Syria’s state me- was lost in a rebel offensive. nearby hills under the cover to be evacuated with the
vanced Monday in the dia and opposition activists The government appears of intense bombardment. rest of the town’s 160 re-
central province of Hama said. to be aiming to secure Earlier on Monday, the Ob- maining inhabitants, who
under the cover of intense The push toward the town areas north of the city of servatory and Syrian-based are mostly fighters.
airstrikes, approaching the of Tibet al-Imam came Hama, the country’s fourth opposition activist Taher al- The evacuation has been
outskirts of a rebel-held a day after troops and largest. Omar said members of the postponed repeated-
town a day after captur- pro-government militia- Insurgents, including mem- Levant Liberation Commit- ly since it was originally
ing a strategic town from men captured the town of bers of al-Qaida-linked tee captured several army scheduled for April 4. q

Hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel launch hunger strike

M. DARAGHMEH largest such strike in five tinian President Mahmoud zens and he was sentenced termination.”
Associated Press years. The hunger strikers’ Abbas’ Fatah movement. to five life terms. “This new hunger strike will
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) immediate demands in- Over the years, polls have Barghouti is one of the demonstrate once more
— Hundreds of Palestinians cluded better conditions, indicated that Barghouti is best-known among thou- that the prisoners’ move-
in Israeli prisons launched including more contact the most popular choice sands of Palestinians jailed ment is the compass that
a hunger strike Monday, in with relatives, and an end among Palestinians to for charges ranging from guides our struggle, the
what their leader behind to Israel’s practice of de- succeed the 82-year-old stone-throwing and mem- struggle for Freedom and
bars called a new step in tentions without trial. Abbas who has failed to bership in groups outlawed Dignity, the name we have
the Palestinians’ “long walk In the West Bank and Gaza, groom a political heir. by Israel, to attacks that chosen for this new step in
to freedom.” thousands staged solidarity Barghouti was arrested in wounded or killed Israelis. our long walk to freedom,”
Activists said more than marches Monday to mark 2002 during the violent Pal- In an op-ed published in he wrote.
1,500 of about 6,500 Pal- Prisoners’ Day in the Pales- estinian uprising and con- The New York Times, Barg- In what appeared to be a
estinians held by Israel as tinian areas. victed on multiple counts houti wrote that Israeli punitive measure, Israel’s
so-called security prison- The hunger strike was led of murder. Israel charged prisons have become the prison service said Bargh-
ers joined the open-ended by Marwan Barghouti, a him with directing suicide “cradle of a lasting move- outi had been transferred
protest and that it was the prominent figure in Pales- bombings against its citi- ment for Palestinian self-de- to a different prison.q