THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2016 ANALYSIS THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF ESTABLISHED 1961 Founder and Publisher YOUSUF S. AL-ALYAN Editor-in-Chief ABD AL-RAHMAN AL-ALYAN EDITORIAL : 24833199-24833358-24833432 ADVERTISING : 24835616/7 FAX : 24835620/1 CIRCULATION : 24833199 Extn. 163 ACCOUNTS : 24835619 COMMERCIAL : 24835618 P.O.Box 1301 Safat,13014 Kuwait. E MAIL :[email protected] Website: www.kuwaittimes.net Issues Battlefronts against IS in northern Syria he Islamic State jihadist group is battling on several fronts in a swathe of territory in Tnorthern Syria. Much of the fighting is cen- tered around a main supply line snaking down from the Syrian-Turkish border to IS’s de facto capi- tal Raqa city. The jihadists are facing twin offen- sives-from a Kurdish-Arab alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and from pro- regime troops-on either side of the town of Tabqa, a key transit town near Raqa. To the northwest, IS is also nearly surrounded by an SDF offensive on the town of Manbij, another major hub along the route. While any push on Raqa itself seems long term, the jihadists have stalled in an advance on Hillary Clinton’s mighty challenge: to unify her camp two rebel bastions further west. By Jerome Cartillier York, Clinton did not directly urge her rival can to help elect Barack Obama, the next political analyst from the University of Tabqa to stand down. But she held out an olive president of the United States.” Virginia. “A sizable minority of the Sanders Under IS control since 2014, Tabqa lies in Raqa n June 7, 2008, Hillary Clinton made branch to him-and his supporters. “Let troops have grown to despise her. Sanders province near Syria’s largest dam on the Euphrates way for Barack Obama to conquer there be no mistake, Senator Sanders, his ‘Fear of Trump’ will have to back Clinton repeatedly and river, a military airport and oil fields. Tabqa was Othe White House, conceding defeat campaign, and the vigorous debate that This time, Clinton will have to earn the with enthusiasm.” Democrats like to point home to around 80,000 residents before Syria’s war after a fractious primary race, and throwing we’ve had about how to raise income, support on November 8 of the young, pas- out that the bad blood between the her full weight behind him. Eight years lat- reduce inequality, increase upward mobili- sionate voters fired up by Sanders’ grass- Obama and Clinton campaign teams was broke out in 2011. The US-backed SDF announced er, it is she who faces the arduous task of ty, have been very good for the Democratic roots campaign. Her biggest hurdle: the considerably worse than between this their offensive on the town on May 24, advancing unifying her camp after a-sometimes bit- Party and for America,” she said. “As we look sizeable share of Bernie’s fans who view the year’s rival camps-and that it did not stop from positions near the Turkish border to within 60 ter-battle with Bernie Sanders. On paper, it ahead, let’s remember all that unites us.” In former first lady, senator and secretary of them from winning. kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Tabqa. But pro- seems an easier task than the one facing 2008, Clinton had thrown her weight state as calculating and insincere-echoing They are also counting on Obama him- regime fighters backed by Russian air strikes have her Republican rival Donald Trump whose unequivocally behind her erstwhile rival, the favorite line of attack of her Republican self to enter the race in the role of unifier- pushed in much closer from the southwest-to insurgent candidacy and incendiary com- calling for her supporters “to take our ener- rival Trump. “Clinton doesn’t have the abili- in-chief. “I think you can expect the presi- around 25 kilometers from the town’s airport. The ments-dubbed “racist” by leading GOP fig- gy, our passion, our strength, and do all we ty to do it alone,” argued Larry Sabato, a dent to play that kind of role,” White House government advance is the first time President ures-are tearing his party apart. spokesman Josh Earnest said recently. Bashar Al-Assad’s fighters have entered Raqa But Clinton’s challenge remains very Obama’s message has already been fine- province in two years. Longtime regime ally Russia real, with one big question still unan- tuned: the two Democratic candidates, swered: how will “Bernie” behave towards while very different in style-are not so dif- supported the construction of the Tabqa dam the nominee he fought tooth-and-nail to ferent when it comes to substance. “They’re under Assad’s father Hafez. Analysts say the SDF stop? The Vermont senator told supporters both good people. I know them both well,” have ceased to advance on Tabqa as they focus on late Tuesday that he would “continue the Obama said during a trip to Japan last retaking Manbij. fight” for the Democratic nomination and week-as if laying the groundwork for the stay in the race until the party’s convention necessary reconciliation ahead. “I think that Manbij in Philadelphia next month to drive home it’s important for us to try to end this in a Late last month, the SDF announced a new front his message about reforming Wall Street, way that leaves both sides feeling proud of towards Manbij, another vital hub on the supply the minimum wage and the role of money what they’ve done.” route. The town-also held by IS since 2014 — lies in in politics. For Sabato, “President Obama must rea- Aleppo province on the same supply route along Sanders acknowledged “a very, very son with his party’s left wing, using fear of steep fight. But we will continue to fight for Trump as the emotional appeal.” According the Euphrates from the IS-held border town of every vote and every delegate we can.” “We to the latest Gallup poll, Obama’s populari- Jarabulus to Raqa city. Manbij had a pre-war popu- understand that our mission is more than ty with that segment of the electorate is lation of about 120,000 — mostly Arabs, but about just defeating Donald Trump, it is trans- sky-high-at 92 percent. Eight years apart, a quarter Syrian Kurds. Since May 30, the alliance forming our country,” the silver-haired 74- Obama and Clinton have one asset in com- has swept west towards Manbij, seizing at least 40 year-old said. After decades of relative iso- mon: both offer voters the chance to write villages with air support from the US-led coalition. lation in Congress, this campaign has hand- a new page in American political history, as Sherfan Darwish, who heads the SDF’s Manbij ed him, and his calls for a political revolu- the first African American in the White offensive, told AFP the town is surrounded from tion, a belated-but spectacular-dose of House, and the first woman US president. three sides and “operations are progressing well”. recognition. “Today’s primaries are no Whatever the weaknesses of a candidate At their closest, the SDF stand just two kilometers longer about the nomination. They are whose stiff campaign style has struggled to about leverage in the peace talks that are ignite crowds, Democratic voters could yet (just over a mile) to the south of the town, the sure to follow,” the one-time Obama strate- BROOKLYN: Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary mobilize massively to prove that their party Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring gist David Axelrod tweeted on Tuesday. Clinton and her husband former US president Bill Clinton greet supporters dur- is, once again, the one that pushes the group said. Thousands of civilians have fled Manbij Delivering her victory speech in New ing a primary night event on June 7, 2016 in Brooklyn, New York. —AFP boundaries in American society. —AFP from the west as SDF fighters close in from all oth- er sides. Africa’s richest woman edges towards power in Angola Raqa Recapturing Raqa city would be one of the By Susan Njanji Marques, adding she never paid for the shares. Born in Baku, She has also spread her banking empire into neighboring biggest symbolic victories for anti-jihadist forces. Azerbaijan in 1973 where her father was studying, she grew Namibia. Last year she bought 65 percent of Portugal’s energy The SDF has insisted it is not yet preparing to take ow that Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s wealthiest woman, up in London, where she studied mechanical and electrical and electrical engineering group Efacec, prompting calls by on IS in the city itself and analysts say any offensive has been named head of Angola’s oil company she engineering at King’s College. She moved to Angola in 1992 five European Union parliamentarians to investigate the to seize the city remains on the backburner for Ncould soon be headed for more power-but this time in when her father secured a brief civil war truce with rebel source of her funding. Critics say she amassed her vast for- now. “Neither the SDF coalition backed by the US, politics, experts say. Her father, President Jose Eduardo dos leader Jonas Savimbi. tune thanks to the state and backing of her father. But in a nor the regime forces assisted by Russia, have the Santos, appointed her as boss last week of state-owned oil Her first business venture was in 1995 when she opened a interview with the Wall Street Journal early this year, she ability on their own to reach, let alone take Raqa,” firm Sonangol in a move that some analysts see as the first restaurant, Miami Beach, as a 24-year-old in Angola’s capital denied being bankrolled by the government.