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A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 23 February 2019

From Syria, IS slips into Iraq to fight another day

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and Syrian territory. The ex-
PHILIP ISSA tremist offshoot of Al-Qaida
Associated Press in Iraq threatened to exter-
BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic minate religious minorities.
State fighters facing defeat Iraqi forces, with U.S., Irani-
in Syria are slipping across an, and other international
the border into Iraq, where help, were able to turn the
they are destabilizing the war around and Baghdad
country’s fragile security, declared victory over the
U.S. and Iraqi officials say. group in December 2017,
Hundreds — likely more after the last urban battle
than 1,000 — IS fighters had been won.
have crossed the open, But precursors to IS have
desert border in the past six recovered from major set-
months, defying a massive backs in the past, and
operation by U.S., Kurdish, many fear the militants
and allied forces to stamp could stage a comeback.
out the remnants of the ji- The group is already wag-
hadi group in eastern Syria, ing a low-level insurgency
according to three Iraqi in rural areas.
intelligence officials and a The Associated Press veri-
U.S. military official. fied nine IS attacks in Iraq
The officials spoke on con- In this Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019 file photo, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters watch as in January alone, based on
dition of anonymity be- an airstrike hits territory still held by Islamic State militants in the desert outside Baghouz, Syria. U.S. information gathered from
cause they were not autho- Associated Press intelligence officials, pro-
rized to comment publicly sure it is under in Syria,” said River village near the 600-ki- up money and arms from vincial leaders, and social
on intelligence matters. But Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul, lometer (370-mile) border. caches they stashed away media. IS often boasts of
indications of the extremist the Iraqi army spokesman. The Iraqi army has de- when they controlled a its activities through group
group’s widening reach in The militants can count ployed more than 20,000 vast swath of northern Iraq. messaging apps such as
Iraq are clear. between 5,000 and 7,000 troops to guard the frontier, “If we deployed the great- Telegram.
Cells operating in four among their ranks in Iraq, but militants are slipping est militaries in the world, In one instance, a band
northern provinces are car- where they are hiding out across, mostly to the north they would not be able to of militants broke into the
rying out kidnappings, as- in the rugged terrain of re- of the conflict zone, in tun- control this territory,” Ra- home of a man they ac-
sassinations, and roadside mote areas, according to nels or under the cover of soul said. “Our operations cused of being an infor-
ambushes aimed at intimi- one intelligence official. night. Others are entering require intelligence gather- mant for the army, in the
dating locals and restoring In Syria, Kurdish-led forces Iraq disguised as cattle ing and airstrikes.” village of Tal al-Asfour in the
the extortion rackets that backed by the U.S.-led co- herders. At its height in 2014 and northern Badush region.
financed the group’s rise to alition have cornered the They are bringing with them 2015, the Islamic State They shot him and his two
power six years ago. militants in a pocket less currency and light weap- group ruled over a self-pro- brothers against the wall,
“IS is trying to assert itself in than one square kilometer ons, according to intelli- claimed “caliphate” that and posted photos of the
Iraq, because of the pres- in Baghouz, a Euphrates gence reports, and digging spanned one-third of Iraqi killing on social media.q

Sudan declares state of emergency, disbands Cabinet

Associated Press give the security forces a amending the constitution
CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s free hand in cracking down to scrap presidential term
President Omar al-Bashir on on protesters and carrying limit canceled its meetings.
Friday declared a state of out detentions, and places The Sudanese Professional
emergency for a year and heavier restrictions on the Association, which is spear-
disbanded the govern- press and opposition par- heading the country’s
ment amid deadly protests. ties. demonstrations, warned of
Al-Bashir — who seized Sudan has been gripped by any measures that could
power in a 1989 coup— nationwide protests since “turn against” the de-
also said that he will post- Dec. 19. The demonstra- mands of the Sudanese
pone pushing for constitu- tions, which show no sign of people, and vowed that it
tional amendments to al- abating, were triggered by will respond with more es-
low him to seek a third term rising prices and shortages calation in street protests.
in office. but quickly turned to calls “The demands of this revo-
Facing genocide charges, for al-Bashir to step down. lution are crystal clear,”
al-Bashir’s rule has been Al-Bashir’s term ends in the statement said, “the
rocked by civil wars and 2020 and he has repeat- regime and its head must
increasing street demon- edly promised over the step down.”
strations. A heavy security In this July 9, 2018, file photo, Sudan’s President Omar al- years not to make new runs However, al-Bashir warned
crackdown has left scores Bashir attends a ceremony for Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip for the presidency. With- the opposition of the “zero-
of protesters dead. At least Erdogan, at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey. out amending the consti- sum” game that creates
57 people have been killed Associated Press tutions, he can’t run for a chaos, pointing to a wave
since December. national history,” al-Bashir get out of it stronger and third term. of the Arab Spring upris-
“Our country is passing said in a speech aired live more united and deter- His announcement came ings that led to civil wars in
through a difficult and from the presidential pal- mined.” days after a parliamenta- countries like Libya and Ye-
complicated phase in our ace in Khartoum. “We will The state of emergency will ry committee tasked with men. q