IN eastern Syria, the offensive on the last enclave held by Daesh has been blunted after hundreds of civilians were found to be still living there.
A commander with the US-backed, Kurdish-led force fighting the extremists said the group had launched the offensive to liberate Baghouz a week ago, following the evacuation of more than 20,000 civilians.
But Adnan Afrin said that in the last three days, Daesh militants had brought hundreds of civilians up from underground tunnels to make the groups fighting them aware of their presence.
He estimated some 1000 civilians, including women and children, were still in the area – possibly being used as human shields by Daesh members.
“We do not want to cause a massacre against civilians in the last [Daesh] pocket,”Afrin said.
Daesh militants are still clinging to their last patch of land in Baghouz, and the anticipated declaration of victory against the group has been delayed by this discovery.
IN India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi (pictured) has warned of a “crushing response” to the suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which killed 41 people and was the deadliest in the divided region’s volatile history.
Modi placed the blame for the bombing on Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting rebels in Kashmir.
Pakistan’s ruling party rejected this, saying the blame was so Modi’s party could make political gains in an upcoming election.
The attack has ratcheted up already high tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who both administer parts of the disputed territory but claim it entirely.
FRANCE has sent its ambassador back to Italy after the biggest diplomatic dispute between the two countries since the Second World War.
Christian Masset was recalled last week to protest against perceived Italian meddling in French domestic politics, after Italian deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio met French yellow vest activists seeking to run for the European Parliament.
“I’m happy the French ambassador is coming back to Italy,” Di Maio (pictured) said. “I’ll ask him for a meeting. In the meanwhile, welcome back.”
AND finally in Sweden, the main suspect in the theft of royal funeral artefacts from a cathedral has confessed to stealing them.
The 22-year-old Swede reportedly told a court he had cut himself when taking the two crowns and an orb from the Strangnas Cathedral on July 31.
Police say blood on the items, found on February 5, matched his DNA – but they have no clue why the jewels showed up last week.
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