Tag: conflict

Assad approves $9.2 billon budget

DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday approved a $9.2-billion budget for his war-torn country, official media reported. The 2020 budget, approved by Syria’s parliament before being signed off by Assad, sees the country’s deficit rise by 54 percent compared to the current budget, according to the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan. The country’s devastating eight-year war has inflicted damage estimated by the United Nations last year at some $400 billion. The Syrian pound […]

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Freed UK hostage and wife say they were chained, threatened by Abu Sayyaf while in captivity

  ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) — A British man and his wife rescued this week from Islamist captors in the Philippines’ south say they were chained and threatened with beheading if they didn’t deliver a ransom. The couple, shaken but unharmed, told their nearly two-month ordeal to reporters after escaping during a firefight Monday between Philippine troops and the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf group. The husband, named by British authorities as Alan Hyrons, painted a “very […]

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Philippines rescues British man, wife held by jihadists

  MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — MANILA, Philippines (AFP) Philippine soldiers on Monday rescued a British man and his wife from Islamic State-linked jihadists nearly two months after the couple were kidnapped from their beach resort in the nation’s south, authorities said. Troops recovered the pair after a firefight with gunmen from the Abu Sayyaf group on the restive southern island of Jolo, which is a stronghold of the kidnap-for-ransom gang that has been behind some […]

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Garbage crisis brings cholera to Yemen’s historic Taez

TAEZ, Yemen (AFP) — Mounds of stinking garbage line the streets of Yemen’s historic city of Taez, once renowned as one of the most beautiful places in the country, but now torn apart by war. The city in the highlands of southwestern Yemen has become a breeding ground for mosquitos as well as deadly outbreaks of diseases like cholera, as decaying refuse leaches into waterways. Yemen, long the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, has […]

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Dog wounded in Baghdadi raid back on duty

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The military dog slightly wounded in the US raid which resulted in the death of jihadist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is recovering and back on duty, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday. General Mark Milley said the dog had performed a “tremendous service” during the special forces weekend assault in Syria that led to the death of the leader of the Islamic State group. Announcing […]

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Protecting oil: Trump’s latest Syria strategy under question

by Sylvie LANTEAUME WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — After abruptly pulling US troops who protected Kurdish fighters, President Donald Trump has identified protecting oil as the new goal in Syria. But experts question if the new strategy is realistic, or even legal. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday that US troops were reinforcing their positions, including with mechanized forces, in Deir Ezzor in northern Syria. Their mission will be to prevent the Islamic State group […]

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IS spokesman killed in fresh north Syria raid: SDF official

AIN AL-BAYDAH, Syria (AFP) — The Islamic State group’s spokesman was killed Sunday in northern Syria, a top Kurdish official said, hours after the jihadists’ leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was announced dead. The official with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces — who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak on the issue — said IS spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir had been killed after SDF chief Mazloum Abdi said he had […]

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Villagers search for bodies after 70 killed in Afghan mosque blast

  JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) — Villagers searched for the bodies of their loved ones on Saturday in the rubble of a mosque in eastern Afghanistan that collapsed in a blast during Friday prayers, killing 70 people including dozens of children, officials said. The attack — the country’s second most deadly this year — took place in Haska Mina district of eastern Nangarhar province and also wounded at least 36 people. “We have reports that the […]

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Deadly Turkey air strikes shatter NE Syria truce

  by Delil Souleiman Agence France Presse TAL TAMR, Syria (AFP) — Deadly Turkish air strikes Friday shattered an hours-old US-brokered deal to stop Ankara’s military offensive against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria. The ceasefire announced late Thursday was meant to provide a pause for the evacuation of Kurdish fighters from the battleground border town of Ras al-Ain and other areas Turkey wants to control along its border with Syria. The five-day suspension looked designed […]

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More US sanctions on Turkey if no ceasefire: Mnuchin

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States is prepared to ratchet up economic pressure on Turkey if it does not agree to cease its offensive in northern Syria, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday. Turkey has so far rebuffed international pressure to hold its fire against Kurdish forces in the war-torn Middle Eastern nation. Facing stinging criticism at home, US President Donald Trump this week slapped sanctions on top Turkish officials and imposed […]

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Turkey defiant on Syria offensive as US demands ceasefire

by Luana Sarmini-Buonaccorsi with Nazeer al-Khatib in Ras al-Ain CEYLAPINAR, Turkey (AFP) — Turkey rebuffed international pressure to curb its deadly offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria on Wednesday as US President Donald Trump dispatched his deputy Mike Pence to Ankara to demand a ceasefire. But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that Turkey’s operation — which has been facilitated by the withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria — would continue. On another front, Kurdish […]

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Trump: US troops leaving Syria will ‘remain in region’ to prevent IS revival

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that US troops withdrawing from Syria would remain in the region to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group. “United States troops coming out of Syria will now redeploy and remain in the region to monitor the situation and prevent a repeat of 2014, when the neglected threat of ISIS raged across Syria and Iraq,” Trump said in a statement, using an acronym for […]

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