{"id":14887,"date":"2018-09-13T01:23:51","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T01:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=14887"},"modified":"2018-09-13T01:23:51","modified_gmt":"2018-09-13T01:23:51","slug":"libyan-capitals-airport-closes-after-rocket-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=14887","title":{"rendered":"Libyan capital&#8217;s airport closes after rocket attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-io-article-url=\"http:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1370991\/middle-east\" readability=\"148\">\n<p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\nGovernment forces shelled Syria\u2019s last major rebel bastion on Wednesday, hours after UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council any full-blown offensive in Idlib risks triggering a \u201cbloodbath.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\nAs troops massed for a Russian-backed offensive in the northwest, Kurdish-led rebels launched a US-backed assault in the east to oust Daesh from its last redoubt in the Euphrates Valley, the US-led coalition confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>\nIntermittent artillery fire hit southern districts of Idlib province and adjacent rebel-held areas of Hama province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe Britain-based war monitor did not immediately report any casualties from the bombardment which came after shelling and air strikes killed at least 15 civilians in the rebel zone since Sept. 4.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe northwestern province and adjacent areas form the largest chunk of territory still held by the rebels, who have been worn down by a succession of defeats in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n<p>\nRussia-backed government forces have been massing for weeks around Idlib, which is home to nearly 3 million people, many of them already dependent on aid.<\/p>\n<p>\nUN agencies and relief organizations have warned repeatedly that any major assault could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters of Syria\u2019s war.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cIt is absolutely essential to avoid a full-scale battle in Idlib,\u201d Guterres said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThis would unleash a humanitarian nightmare unlike any seen in the blood-soaked Syrian conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nAnkara, which already hosts more than 3 million Syrian refugees, fears a new mass exodus and has called repeatedly for a cease-fire to give time for a negotiated settlement.<\/p>\n<p>\nMore than half of Idlib province is held by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, an extremist alliance led by Syria\u2019s former Al-Qaeda affiliate, and Turkey has warned a government offensive could scatter thousands of foreign extremists abroad, posing a security threat to the West.<\/p>\n<p>\nA major battle would trigger a \u201cmassive wave of refugees and tremendous security risks for Turkey, the rest of Europe and beyond,\u201d Turkish ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu told the Security Council on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\nFrench Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed strong support for the Turkish position, warning there were \u201cmany terrorists from other nations who could scatter\u201d in the event of a joint Syrian-Russian offensive, posing \u201crisks for our security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nFrance, the European country worst hit by a wave of attacks since 2015, has been on high alert for radicals returning home from areas of Iraq and Syria that have been recaptured from Daesh.<\/p>\n<p>\nIn the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, US-backed fighters fought to oust Daesh from the town of Hajjin on the east bank of the Euphrates, the most significant remnant of the sprawling \u201ccaliphate\u201d the jihadists once controlled spanning Syria and Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe operation \u201cwill clear remnants of Daesh from northeastern Syria along the Middle Euphrates River Valley toward the Syria-Iraq border,\u201d the US-led coalition said.<\/p>\n<p>\nIn Idlib, civilians and fighters have been scrambling to prepare for the looming offensive.<\/p>\n<p>\nWestern governments have said Damascus might again resort to the use of chemical weapons while Moscow has accused rebels of staging one as a pretext for Western intervention.<\/p>\n<p>\nIn a southern part of Idlib, a worried father busied himself making homemade gas masks, by stuffing gauze, cotton wool and coal into paper cups, then placing them in the corner of a large plastic bag.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been hearing the regime and Russia threaten to bomb us with chemical weapons,\u201d said Hadheefa Al-Shahhad.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cWe had to make these masks to protect our women and children just in case,\u201d said the 27-year-old, who says he learnt how to make them by watching a video online.<\/p>\n<p>\nOn Tuesday, Russia claimed that Syrian rebels had begun working on film footage that would be presented to the world as the aftermath of an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian army.<\/p>\n<p>\nAssad\u2019s regime has been repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons during the conflict and last year US President Donald Trump unleashed Tomahawk missiles against the regime\u2019s Shayrat air base following an attack that killed more than 80 people.<\/p>\n<p>\nAfter another alleged toxic attack outside Damascus in April, Britain, France and the US also carried out retaliatory strikes.<\/p>\n<p>\nWashington has spoken of far bigger reprisals if Assad orders any repetition.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cHe\u2019s been warned, and so we\u2019ll see if he\u2019s wised up,\u201d US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 Government forces shelled Syria\u2019s last major rebel bastion on Wednesday, hours after UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council any full-blown offensive in Idlib risks triggering a \u201cbloodbath.\u201d\u00a0 As troops massed for a Russian-backed offensive in the northwest, Kurdish-led rebels launched a US-backed assault in the east to oust Daesh from its&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":14888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}