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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 29 November 2016

Rebels’ hold on eastern Aleppo collapses as troops move in

ZEINA KARAM the country.
PHILIP ISSA Charles Lister, a senior fel-
Associated Press low at the Washington-
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian gov- based Middle East Institute,
ernment forces captured said the opposition’s losses
more than a third of oppo- in Aleppo are the biggest
sition-held eastern Aleppo since 2012.
on Monday, touching off “Aleppo city itself has also
a wave of panic and flight been a consistent base of
from the besieged enclave moderate opposition ac-
as rebel defenses in the tivity, so its collapse spells
country’s largest city rap- what could be an existen-
idly collapsed. tial blow to the moderate
The dramatic gains marked opposition from which it’ll
an inflection point in Syria’s likely struggle to recover,”
nearly 6-year-old con- he said.
flict, threatening to dis- Ever since it joined the up-
lodge armed opponents rising four years ago, east-
of President Bashar Assad ern Aleppo tried to make
from their last major urban itself a model for a Syria
stronghold. without Assad. It elected
Reclaiming all of Aleppo, local leaders, ran its own
Syria’s former commercial education system and built
capital, would be the big- an economy trading with This photo shows people fleeing rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo into the Sheikh
gest prize of the war for the rebel-held countryside Maqsoud area that is controlled by Kurdish fighters, Syria. Syrian state media is reporting that gov-
Assad. It would put his forc- and neighboring Turkey. ernment forces have captured the eastern Aleppo neighborhood of Sakhour, putting much of the
es in control of the coun- Its residents kept life going northern part of Aleppo’s besieged rebel-held areas under state control.
try’s four largest cities as amid ferocious fighting with (The Rumaf via AP)
well as the coastal region, the pro-government west-
and cap a year of steady ern districts, but four years newed his push for Aleppo water and medical sup- cal Council in Aleppo, told
government advances. of battles and airstrikes this month. The besieged plies. They include more The Associated Press in a
It also would bolster his po- have reduced entire blocks eastern districts came un- than 100,000 children, the text message from eastern
sition and momentum just in the territory to rubble. der intense airstrikes that U.N. says. Aleppo.
as a new U.S. administra- Helped by massive Russian killed hundreds in the past “It is stinging cold, food is Some are taking refuge
tion is taking hold, freeing air power and thousands of two weeks. scarce and people are in mosques while others
thousands of his troops and Iranian-backed Shiite mili- More than 250,000 people shaken in the streets,” Mo- moved to homes of dis-
allied militiamen to move tia fighters from Lebanon, are believed trapped there hammad Zein Khandaqa- placed people in safer ar-
on to other battles around Iraq and Iran, Assad re- with limited access to food, ni, a member of the Medi- eas, he added. q

Montenegrin lawmakers approve new pro-NATO government

PREDRAG MILIC Cabinet of Prime Minister “We expect to finish the an Union and NATO inte- NATO effort. Authorities
Associated Press Dusko Markovic was ap- process before spring gration as the priority. have said two Russian na-
PODGORICA, Montenegro proved with 41 votes in fa- (2017),” the 58-year-old for- Opposition parties — in- tionalists were behind the
(AP) — Montenegrin law- vor and none against in the mer intelligence chief told cluding pro-Russian groups plot along with some Serbs
makers on Monday swore 81-member assembly. Op- lawmakers. “Full member- — have complained that who fought with pro-Russia
in a pro-NATO govern- position lawmakers boycot- ship (in NATO) will provide the Oct. 16 elections were rebels in eastern Ukraine.
ment amid political ten- ted the session. the level of security we marred by irregularities. Moscow has denied in-
sions following an alleged Markovic pledged that his haven’t had in the past.” The vote was marked by volvement in the alleged
foiled election-day coup Cabinet would wrap up in Markovic also said his gov- the arrest of 20 people who coup. However, Russian
orchestrated by Russian 2017 the years-long pro- ernment will seek to “over- allegedly planned to as- officials have openly op-
nationalists to derail the cess of Montenegro’s inte- come misunderstandings sassinate the prime minister posed Montenegro’s up-
Balkan country’s bid to join gration into NATO that has with our historic ally Russia,” and take over power in or- coming membership in
the alliance. The coalition been opposed by Russia. while keeping the Europe- der to block Montenegro’s NATO.q