Gulf / Middle East / Africa Thursday, February 6, 2020 07 Avalanches kill nearly 40 in eastern Turkey AFP overall toll to 38. Eight people be under the snow. Interior Minister Suley- Local media reported that ANKARA had been rescued alive from The rescuers had been man Soylu said rescuers had residents in nearby areas also the first avalanche. searching for two people from paused overnight and re- joined the rescue efforts in an AT least 33 people were killed Television images showed Tuesday’s incident, AFAD’s sumed their efforts Wednes- area difficult to reach in harsh in eastern Turkey on Wednes- dozens of people scrambling up Van province chairman Os- day morning to find the last winter conditions. day by a second avalanche the mountains, digging through man Ucar told reporters from two people. Television images showed which buried a team of rescu- snow in blizzards to find those his hospital bed. Authorities were alerted to dozens of people scrambling up ers searching for people hit by trapped under the snow. He was among those in- the first avalanche when snow- the mountains, digging through the first the day before. The number of those in- jured including former rul- clearing vehicle operator Ba- snow in blizzards to find those The bodies of 33 rescue jured was 53 in total after the ing party MP for Van, Gulsen hattin Karagulle escaped from caught under the snow. workers and civilians were second avalanche hit after Orhan, who now advises Presi- his snow-covered machine A special military plane discovered in Van province, 0900 GMT between Bahc- dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan. and informed officials of what with 75 gendarmerie officers where they had been helping esaray and Catak districts, Van governor Mehmet had happened, Milliyet daily and other rescue officials were dig out a minibus buried by AFAD said. Emin Bilmez said rescue ef- reported. on their way from Ankara, snow late Tuesday, the gov- Health Minister Fahrettin forts continued despite the dif- The AFAD agency sent AFAD and the defence minis- ernment’s disaster agency Koca warned the number of ficult winter conditions caus- dozens of rescue workers after try said. Emergency service members dig in the snow around at least three AFAD said. casualties could rise as local ing transport problems with the first disaster while gendar- Erdogan spoke to Soylu to overturned vehicles, near the town of Bahcesehir, in the eastern Tur- Five people aboard the media reported an unknown heavy snow continuing to fall merie officers and firefighters obtain information on the ef- key province of Van, on Wednesday. (AFP) vehicle were killed, taking the number of people could still on the mountainside. provided assistance. forts, the presidency said. SYRIAN SOLDIERS ADVANCE News in brief Caption Erdogan warns Syria to back Iraq premier-designate meets anti-government protesters BAGHDAD: Iraq’s premier-designate Mohammad Allawi has met with dozens of representatives of the protest movement off from Turkish outposts rocking the capital and Shiite-majority south since October, a participant in the meetings said on Wednesday. AFP When he announced his designation on February 1, Allawi ISTANBUL extended a hand to the protesters and urged them to keep up their demonstrations. TURKEY gave Syria an ulti- “Since the beginning of the week, Mohammad Allawi has matum on Wednesday to pull held a string of meetings with several dozen representatives of its forces back from its mili- protesters from the eight provinces taking part in the uprising,” tary posts in the country’s last said Hisham al-Hashemi, an Iraqi security expert present at the rebel enclave following un- meetings. precedented clashes between According to Hashemi, Allawi pledged to release Iraqis their forces this week. detained for demonstrating, compensate the families of those The escalation between killed in protest-related violence and work with the United Na- Turkish and Syrian troops tions to implement the demonstrators’ demands. (AFP) -- which saw more than 20 people killed in exchanges on Trump says Iran economy suffering, Monday -- is testing the un- insists on policy changes easy relations between Turkey and Russia, the key foreign WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said that US sanc- brokers of the conflict. tions are crippling the Iranian economy and insisted Tehran “If the regime does not pull must significantly change its policies. back, Turkey will be obliged “The Iranian regime must abandon its pursuit of nuclear to take matters into its own weapons, stop spreading death, terror, and destruction and hands,” Turkish President start working for the good of its own people,” Trump said in the Recep Tayyip Erdogan told State of the Union address, even as Iran says it is not actively a meeting of his ruling party seeking to develop a nuclear bomb. MPs in Ankara, giving Syria “We can help them make a very good and short time recov- until the end of the month to ery. It can all go very quickly. Perhaps they are too proud or too comply. foolish to ask for that help. We are here. Let’s see which path But Syrian regime forces they choose. It is totally up to them,” he said. were pursuing their offensive Trump made the remarks after hailing a recent United in northwestern Idlib province States strike which killed senior Iranian general Qassem on Wednesday -- which has Soleimani in Iraq. (DPA) killed 300 civilians since De- cember and displaced 520,000 Syrian self-propelled artillery and a Katyusha rocket launcher positioned in the town of Tell Sultan, in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on German cabinet Sudan army agrees people in one of the biggest up- Wednesday. (AFP) votes to extend Burhan-Netanyahu heavals of the nine-year war. army deployments meeting will boost Syrian troops have seized and a flagrant act of aggres- to S. Sudan, Sudan security more than 20 towns and vil- Security Council to hold urgent Aid groups call for immediate sion”, vowing to respond to lages from rebels and jihadists session on Syria: Diplomats Syria ceasefire any Turkish attack on its forc- BERLIN: The German cabinet KHARTOUM: Sudan’s military over the past 24 hours, accord- es, SANA reported. voted on Wednesday to ex- said on Wednesday it backed a ing to the Britain-based Syrian UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council will OSLO: Eight humanitarian aid organisations on Erdogan said the clashes tend two military deployments surprise meeting between the Observatory for Human Rights meet on Thursday for an emergency session on Wednesday called for an immediate ceasefire amounted to a “new era” in to support UN peacekeeping country’s leader and Israel’s and state news agency SANA. Syria following clashes between the Turkish and in northwestern Syria, where hostilities have Syria, and that any further at- efforts in Africa. premier in Uganda this week, The Observatory said Rus- Syrian military, diplomats said on Wednesday. displaced hundreds of thousands of people in tacks would be “responded to Ministers agreed to pro- saying the opening would help sian air strikes killed three ci- They said the meeting, which will be open to the the past two months. in kind”. long Bundeswehr soldiers’ par- boost national security. vilians -- all members of the public, was requested by the US, France and Britain. The Syrian regime has carried out an intense “The air and ground ele- ticipation in the UN missions General Abdel Fattah al- same family -- on the outskirts The UN envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, is air offensive against jihadists and rebels, ena- ments of the Turkish armed in South Sudan (UNMISS) Burhan, chairman of Sudan’s of Idlib city on Wednesday. expected to report on the situation in Idlib, the bling it to reclaim several towns and villages in forces will freely move in the and Sudan (UNAMID) beyond ruling sovereign council, met Regime rocket fire killed diplomats said. the Idlib region despite a freshly-brokered truce. Idlib region and if needed will March 31. Lawmakers in the Israeli premier Benjamin another civilian in the town of An offensive by the Damascus regime, backed The aid groups -- including the Norwegian launch an operation,” he added. Bundestag national parliament Netanyahu met in Entebbe Anjara in the west of Aleppo by Russian air power, against the last stronghold of Refugee Council, Save the Children, Care and A Syrian foreign ministry in Berlin are expected to vote on Monday. Israel remains province. rebel opponents has drawn strong warnings from the International Rescue Committee -- labelled source hit out at Erdogan’s on the extensions on March technically at war with Sudan, Erdogan said two of Tur- Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (AFP) the situation a “humanitarian catastrophe”. (AFP) remarks to SANA as “lies and 12. The UNAMID mission aims which supported hardline key’s 12 observation posts in deceit”. to protect civilians in Sudan Islamists including Al-Qaeda Idlib, set up under a 2018 agree- The mass displacement of while providing humanitarian during the three-decade rule ment with Russia, were now Eight Turkish troops and sent troops to Syria in 2016. counterpart Vladimir Putin on civilians in Idlib has coincided aid and monitoring a ceasefire of autocrat Omar al-Bashir. “behind the regime’s lines”. civilians were killed on Mon- Erdogan called on Mos- Tuesday and told him Ankara with a biting winter and is one agreement in the western Dar- On Tuesday, Burhan briefed The post at Morek was sur- day by regime fire in Idlib and cow, the key backer of Presi- would respond “firmly” to any of the largest since the 2011 fur region. It plans to reduce the sovereign council and top rounded by Assad’s forces in Turkey’s riposte killed at least dent Bashar al-Assad’s regime, new Syrian attack.