Page 8 - aruba-today-20161217

A8 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 17 december 2016

At Press Time:

Aleppo evacuation halted as both sides trade blame

one in eastern Aleppo must troops supporting President
be done simultaneously, Bashar Assad.
but the rebels say there’s Several opposition activists
no connection. said Syrian troops shot and
The foreign minister of Tur- killed four people in one
key, a main backer of the bus, but the incident could
rebels, said he was talking not be independently con-
to his counterpart in Iran, a firmed.
top ally of the Syrian gov- The Lebanon-based pan-
ernment, to try to resume Arab Al-Mayadeen TV
the evacuation. broadcast images of the
A closed emergency meet- government buses appar-
ing of the U.N. Security ently returning evacuees
Council was held on the to eastern Aleppo after the
crisis in Aleppo, discussing road was closed.
a French proposal to have Al-Manar TV, the media
independent monitors arm of the Lebanon-based
oversee the evacuation of Hezbollah militant group
civilians and fighters. The that supports Assad, said
council meeting ended Syrian government sup-
with diplomats saying they porters had closed the
would convene again this road used by evacuees
weekend. from Aleppo, demanding
This image shows residents of eastern Aleppo arriving in western rural Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Dec. The cease-fire and evacu- the wounded from Foua
16, 2016, as part of an evacuation deal. The evacuation of eastern Aleppo stalled Friday after ation marked the end of and Kfarya be allowed to
an eruption of gunfire, as the Syrian government and rebels threw accusations at each other, the rebels’ most important leave.
raising fears that a peaceful surrender of the opposition enclave could fall apart with thousands
of people believed to be still inside. stronghold in the 5-year-old Syrian state media said
(Aleppo 24 via AP) civil war. The suspension rebels shelled a road that
demonstrated the fragility was supposed to be used
BASSEM MROUE was suspended after a global conscience,” said of the cease-fire deal, in by people leaving the vil-
Associated Press report of shooting at a U.N. Secretary-General Ban which civilians and fighters lages. But the opposition’s
BEIRUT (AP) — Diplomats crossing point into the en- Ki-moon. “Aleppo is now a in the few remaining blocks Syrian Observatory for Hu-
sought to salvage the evac- clave. The Syrian govern- synonym for hell.” of the rebel enclave were man Rights said Hezbollah
uation of eastern Aleppo ment pulled out its buses The halt also appeared to to be taken to opposition- fighters backed by Assad
after it stalled Friday amid that since Thursday had be linked to a separate held territory nearby. ally Iran had cut the road
recriminations by both sides been ferrying out people deal to remove thousands In announcing the suspen- to protest a lack of prog-
in Syria’s civil war, raising from the ancient city that of people from the govern- sion, Syrian state TV said ress in the evacuations.
fears the cease-fire could has suffered under intense ment-held Shiite villages of rebels were trying to smug- Buses that arrived at a col-
collapse with thousands still bombardment, fierce bat- Foua and Kfarya that are gle out captives who had lection point in the Hama
desperate to escape the tles and a prolonged siege. under siege by the rebels. been seized in the enclave countryside to pick up
rebel enclave. “The carnage in Syria re- The Syrian government says after ferocious battles with evacuees from the villag-
The Aleppo evacuation mains a gaping hole in the those evacuations and the es waited for hours to no
Iraq: avail.
Later, two rebel spokes-
Retaken Mosul towns still battle-stricken, await aid men privy to the talks said
the fighters besieging the
villages, including the al-
S. GEORGE “This isn’t something we sul, more civilians remain sim’s home and killed three Qaida linked Fatah al-
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — The want our children to see,” trapped living along front of his neighbors. Sham Front, had agreed to
bodies of two dead Islamic Jassim said, coming out lines for longer. Jassim’s As the operation to retake evacuate several hundred
State fighters have been ly- into the street to approach Mishraq neighborhood was Mosul enters its third month, wounded from the villages.
ing on the sidewalk in front a group of Iraqi special declared liberated from Iraqi forces control two Turkey’s state-run Anadolu
of Muhammad Jassim’s forces officers touring the IS nearly a week ago, but pockets of territory in Mosul: Agency said Prime Minister
house in eastern Mosul recent territorial gains. “I remains too dangerous for a cluster of neighborhoods Binali Yildirim had called
for the past week. Both of asked them to please take most aid groups to visit as it on the city’s southeast held Iranian Presidential Deputy
the corpses were burned, the bodies away, the smell lies just a few hundred me- by the Iraqi army’s 9th divi- Ishak Cihangiri and told
abused and decapitated, is terrible.” As Iraqi forces ters from ongoing clashes. sion and neighborhoods on him he was ready to co-
one was partially covered settle into a routine of slow, Thursday, a mortar landed the city’s east held by the operate with Tehran on the
by a pastel floral bed sheet. steadier progress inside Mo- across the street from Jas- special forces.q evacuation issue.q