Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 23 July 2019

Syrian activists say airstrikes kill 27 in rebel-held town

By ZEINA KARAM shell hit a university in the
Associated Press coastal city of Latakia, a
BEIRUT (AP) — Multiple air- government stronghold,
strikes hit a busy market in without causing any casu-
a rebel-controlled town alties.
in northwestern Syria on Syrian opposition activists
Monday, killing at least 27 said Russian warplanes car-
people and turning sev- ried out Monday’s airstrikes,
eral buildings into piles of but Russia’s Defense Min-
rubble, according to op- istry dismissed the reports
position activists and a war as a “hoax,” adding that
monitor. Shortly afterward, the Russian air force didn’t
state media said rebels “carry out any missions in
shelled a government-held that area in Syria.” There
village, killing seven. was no immediate com-
The high death toll marked ment from the Syrian gov-
a sharp increase in the es- ernment.
calation between the two The Observatory, which
sides amid intense fight- monitors the fighting on the
ing. Government troops, ground in Syria through a
backed by Russian air cov- network of activists, said 37
er, have been trying since people were killed, includ-
April to push their way into ing two children and three
the enclave in the north- This photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, shows Syrian White Helmet civil women, in the strike on
western corner of Syria, defense workers search for victims from under the rubble of a destroyed building in Idlib province, Maaret al-Numan. It added
near the Turkish border. Syria, Monday, July 22, 2019. that the number of casual-
Dominated by al-Qaida- Associated Press ties from Monday’s airstrike
linked militants and other weeks. according to the reports man Rights, a war monitor, was likely to rise due to the
jihadi groups, Idlib province The fighting has killed more from the region, which has called it the largest single large number of wounded.
and northern parts of the than 2,000 people and dis- witnessed intensive airstrikes death toll since a Russian- The Thiqa news agency, an
nearby Hama region is the placed hundreds of thou- and bombardment almost Turkish truce collapsed in activist collective in north-
last major rebel stronghold sands. every day for the past three late April. ern Syria, reported that the
in the country outside the The struggling campaign months. The strikes came in Syrian state news agen- strike killed 27 people.
control of Syrian President also underscores the lim- several rounds and caused cy SANA said insurgents A member of the Syrian
Bashar Assad. its of Syria’s and Russia’s widespread destruction, shelled the village of Jourin Civil Defense, also known
Despite the heavy bom- airpower and inability to burying several people un- in the northern part of as White Helmets, said one
bardment, Assad’s forces achieve a definitive vic- der the rubble. Hama province, killing sev- of their colleagues was
have been unable to make tory in the country’s long- Hours after the airstrikes, en civilians when a shell hit killed in a second airstrike
any significant advances. running civil war, now in its paramedics were able to a moving car. State TV also that hit the market.
Militant groups have hit ninth year. remove a little girl alive, reported that insurgents On Sunday, government
back hard, killing an aver- Monday’s airstrikes took rushing her to a nearby am- shelled the government- bombing in Idlib killed at
age of more than a dozen place in the town of Maaret bulance. held town of Suqailabiyah, least 11 civilians according
soldiers and allied militia- al-Numan and also wound- The Britain-based Syr- wounding four people, to the Observatory and first
men per day in recent ed more than 30 people, ian Observatory for Hu- including a child, while a responders.q

Rights group: Iraq government mismanaging water crisis

By ALI ABDUL-HASSAN Promised government proj- violent protests and rioting
Associated Press ects to improve water qual- in Basra, Iraq’s oil-exporting
BASRA, Iraq (AP) — In- ity have failed to material- capital. During a week of
creased rainfall in Iraq this ize due to mismanagement demonstrations, protest-
year has helped alleviate and corruption, it said, and ers set fire to government
a water crisis in Basra and warned of outbreaks of buildings and offices of
may avert the kind of large- water-borne diseases if the Iranian-backed militias that
scale and violent protests problems are left unad- they blame for misman-
that afflicted the southern dressed. agement and profiteering
province last summer. Basra’s acute water prob- while residents struggle with
However, a leading rights lems have been going on poverty.
group and many Basra resi- In this Saturday, July, 20, 2019 photo, potable water pipes mix for decades, leading to After years of meager rains,
dents accuse Iraqi authori- with sewage at a garbage dump in Basra, southeast of Baghdad, outbreaks of protests ev- Iraq had seen its wettest
ties of doing little to address Iraq. ery summer. The protests winter in a generation, re-
the underlying conditions Associated Press turned into a full-blown cri- storing freshwater marshes
causing the water short- of Human Rights Watch The report, entitled “Basra sis last year after thousands in southern Iraq and bring-
ages and pollution crisis, told a press conference in is Thirsty: Iraq’s Failure to of people were hospitalized ing welcome relief to the lo-
warning of outbreaks of Baghdad, where the or- Manage the Water Crisis,” due to stomach ailments cal population. The deluge
water-borne diseases and ganization released its re- said a full year after Basra’s and skin rashes blamed on of the winter months has
continued economic hard- port on Basra’s water crisis. violent protests , authorities the water quality. slightly decreased salinity
ship for the governorate’s 4 “The people of Iraq have a continue to allow activities The contaminated water, in Basra’s drinking water,
million people. right to know what is in their that pollute the province’s along with other failing city as the revived rivers flushed
“The government urgently environment and how to water resources despite services and soaring un- the salt away and filled the
needs to act,” Belkis Wille keep safe.” the health risks to residents. employment, also led to marshes with fresh water.q