Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 15 March 2019
IS militants, families surrender after offensive in Syria

By PHILIP ISSA render" early Thursday.
BAGHOUZ, Syria (AP) — The U.N. said in a Wednes-
U.S.-backed Syrian fighters day report that some 7,000
said Thursday a "large num- new evacuees are expect-
ber" of Islamic State mili- ed to arrive at an already
tants and their families are overpopulated displaced
surrendering a day after people's camp to the north
intense fighting in the last over the next few days.
speck of land the extrem- The SDF forces said the mili-
ists still hold in eastern Syria. tants took advantage of
At the edge of Baghouz, dusty and windy conditions
the village where the mili- a day earlier to launch mul-
tants are still holed up, tiple counterattacks. The
men, women and children U.S.-backed forces fought
climbed a road that winds back, repelling the offen-
along a cliff overlooking sive and apparently trig-
what remains of a tent gering the latest evacua-
encampment, heading tion.
out. Members of the Syr- Windy conditions contin-
ian Democratic Forces said ued on Thursday, and SDF
they searched the evacu- commanders inspected
ees as they reached the front-line positions early in
front lines. the day.
Many of the people carried A woman and her children, who left the besieged Islamic State-held village of Baghouz, Syria, A day after heavy bomb-
scramble over a rocky hillside to be checked by U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces Thursday,
rolls of blankets and clothes March 14, 2019. ing and clashes, it was
but cast them aside as they Associated Press quiet Thursday. By early af-
made their way up the hill. ternoon, it began drizzling.
Women carried babies as crutches, and they carried or to the black robes they SDF spokesman Mustafa The battle to retake Bag-
children slowly made their little aside from water bot- wore. Bali said after an intensive houz and surrounding vil-
way up the rocky terrain. tles. Women were weight- The sound of sporadic gun- offensive Wednesday from lages began in September,
Most of the men appeared ed down with duffel and fire echoed off the cliff and multiple fronts, "a large but has been paused on a
to be wounded, with many plastic bags, and children U.S.-led coalition planes number" of IS militants and number of occasions to al-
limping or walking with holding onto their arms flew overhead. their families "started to sur- low civilians out.q

Attacks could reverse gains in Congo's Ebola fight, says WHO

By JAMEY KEATEN of the deaths are still taking
KRISTA LARSON place in communities rath-
GENEVA (AP) — Attacks on er than at Ebola treatment
Ebola treatment centers in centers. The bodies of vic-
eastern Congo threaten tims are highly contagious,
to reverse the gains being and the aid group said that
made against the current figure shows community
outbreak of the deadly vi- mistrust is still widespread.
rus, the director-general of Tedros told journalists in Ge-
the World Health Organi- neva that a much larger
zation said Thursday as a crisis has been averted:
fourth assault on a health Ebola has been contained
center was reported. to eastern Congo without
Nearly 600 people have spreading across the mas-
died from Ebola in the sive Central African nation
volatile region, making it or crossing borders into
the second most deadly neighboring countries.
in history. Tedros Adhanom "Despite the incredibly dif-
Ghebreyesus, who has just ficult situation the outbreak
returned from a visit to the has been contained in 11
affected areas in Congo, out of the 28 communi-
insisted that efforts to con- ties that have had cases,"
tain Ebola are succeed- Tedros said.
ing. He said that the WHO "You cannot say it's failing
hopes the outbreak will be WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visits an Ebola treatment centre in when the outbreak is con-
brought to an end in the Butembo, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Saturday March 9, 2019. tracting," he added.
next six months. Associated Press Doctors Without Borders
His optimistic assessment described conditions at
Thursday starkly contrasted Eastern Congo is home to Doctors Without Borders known links to other cases. the epicenter in Congo as
to one offered last week a myriad of armed groups, said over the last several That means the vigorous ef- "toxic," saying that govern-
by the head of Doctors and the Ebola epidemic weeks that some 43 per- forts to track the contacts ment security forces were
Without Borders, which has has deepened the political cent of new cases in the of the sick are not entirely complicating the effort by
had to pull out of two Ebola and economic grievances epicenter towns of Kat- successful. trying to force people into
centers following attacks. of many in the area. wa and Butembo had no And more than 40 percent treatment centers.q