Daesh suffers major losses in Iraq, Syria
GOVERNMENT, OPPOSITION IN FIRST FACE-TO-FACE MEETING IN GENEVA
The Daesh terror group faced major setbacks in both Iraq and Syria as local forces fighting the group on the ground inched ever closer to their de facto capitals in both countries.
In Iraq, government forces captured the Mosul airport on the southern edge of the terrorist stronghold for the first time since Daesh overran the region in 2014.
Backed by jets, gunships and drones, forces blitzed their way across open areas south of Mosul and entered the airport compound, apparently meeting limited resistance but strafing the area for suspected snipers. Mosul is the centre of Daesh’s operations in Iraq.
“Right now thank God we’re inside Mosul airport and in front of its terminal. Our troops are liberating it,” Hisham Abdul Kadhem, a commander in the interior ministry’s Rapid Response units, said.
Little was left standing inside the perimeter and what used to be the runway was littered with dirt and rubble. Most buildings were completely levelled but Iraqi forces celebrated the latest landmark in the four-monthold offensive to retake Mosul.
The push on the airport was launched at dawn and Iraqi forces stormed it within hours from the southwest.
Al Bab captured
In Syria, rebel forces and Turkish armed forces gained almost total control of the flashpoint town of Al Bab after entering the centre of the former terror stronghold, the Turkish defence minister said. Taking control of Al Bab would allow the Ankara-backed forces to press on towards Raqqa, Daesh’s de facto capital in Syria.
In Geneva, the Syrian peace talks resumed after breaking down 10 months ago, as government and opposition negotiators sat face-to-face under the UN flag for the first time in three years at the opening ceremony.
The scope of the talks has been cut back to core political questions since last year, after an initiative by Russia, Turkey and Iran took thorny military issues off the Geneva agenda and assigned them to a separate process in the Kazakhstan’s Astana.
Somalia’s new President Mohammad Abdullahi Mohammad yesterday appointed a political newcomer as the prime minister, shortly before departing to Saudi Arabia for his first foreign trip since his inauguration. Somali-born Norwegian national Hassan Ali Khaire, a former executive of British Energy explorer Soma Oil & Gas, was appointed prime minister.
His selection is a nod to balancing clan interests in this Horn of Africa nation. Khaire is a member of the Hawiye clan, as is former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, whom Mohammad defeated in the election earlier this month. Mohammad is from the Darod clan.
Khaire also served as the Horn of Africa regional chief for the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group from 2011-2014. In June 2012, he was in a motorcade that was attacked by armed men on the Somalia-Kenya border, the Norwegian daily Verdens Gang reported. The incident led to criticism of the aid group’s security.
Mohammad, who was inaugurated on Wednesday, also holds US citizenship. His election was a key step toward establishing Somalia’s first fully functioning central government in a quarter-century. The international community has praised the peaceful transfer of power.