In Aleppo, Assad supporters shout their joy after regime victory

In Aleppo, Assad supporters shout their joy after regime victory

2016-12-23 16:29:36.0

ALEPPO, Syria, Dec. 23: (AFP) - Thousands of people in western Aleppo took to the streets Thursday, rejoicing in the Syrian regime's operation to retake the eastern side of their city from rebels after a years-long battle.

Celebratory gunfire began to erupt and crowds began to fill the streets as soon as the army announced the last rebels had left east Aleppo.

The western side of the city had been under the control of President Bashar al-Assad's forces throughout the conflict, and also suffered heavy shelling and loss of life.

"We've been waiting five years for this. We have suffered, what with the rebels, the water shortages and the power cuts," said Rana al-Salem, 29, as tears welled in her eyes and noise rose to a crescendo in the background.

Cars crawled along, their drivers sounding their horns, and in city squares, children had the colours of the Syrian flag painted on their cheeks.Some carried portraits of Assad or the flags of Syria and Russia, whose air raids against the rebels were a turning point.

"Our joy is immense. Life returned to Aleppo today," said lawyer Omar Halli, who predicted "victory over all of Syria".

"God, Syria, Bashar are all we need," "Hey, hey, hey, Aleppo," "With our soul, our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for Syria!," some chanted.ome took selfies in the middle of the crowd, and others let off fireworks.

"My mother swore that I would only get married in our house, in the Old City," a 26-year-old man who gave his name as Assaad, told AFP."I am going to go back to our house and build another floor on it, and I'll be living there after my wedding," he vowed.

Centuries old and studded with historic stone buildings, the Old City became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.But in the battle of Aleppo, the quarter was on the frontline, between the rebel-held east and regime-held west. In 2013, the UN agency placed it on its list of cultural heritage that was at risk.

Aleppo, Syria's second city, was an economic powerhouse for the country before the war, and locally-born businessman Aly Akkam predicted it would rise once more.

"Aleppo will bounce back even stronger," Akkam said, adding he planned to return to the Old City where he had a textile shop that he had to abandon.

The loss of east Aleppo is the biggest blow to the rebel movement in Syria's nearly six-year conflict, which has killed more than 310,000 people.Wednesday's announcement came after a landmark evacuation deal that ended a month-long offensive by government forces and allied militia.

IS 'burns Turkish troops alive' after Ankara vows no let-up

IS 'burns Turkish troops alive' after Ankara vows no let-up

2016-12-23 16:30:30.0

BEIRUT, Dec. 23: (AFP) - The Islamic State jihadist group has released a video purportedly showing two captured Turkish soldiers being burned alive, after Ankara vowed to fight "terror" in Syria in response to 16 of its troops being killed in battle.   The 19-minute video, showing two uniformed men being hauled from a cage before being bound and torched, was posted on jihadist websites and was supposedly shot in the IS-declared "Aleppo Province" in northern Syria.

Speaking in Turkish, the killer of the two men criticises Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and calls for "destruction to be sowed" in Turkey.The shocking images recall the killing of Maaz al-Kassasbeh, a Jordanian fighter pilot, who was captured by the jihadists when his plane went down in Syria in December 2014, and was later burned alive in a cage.

The IS-linked news agency Amaq said last month that the jihadists had kidnapped two Turkish soldiers, and the Turkish army separately said it had lost contact with two of its men.

The video's release comes a day after 16 Turkish soldiers were killed by IS fighters in Ankara's biggest loss so far in its unprecedented incursion into Syria.They were killed in a succession of attacks around the Syrian town of Al-Bab on Wednesday that included three suicide car bombings.

The heavy toll showed the intensifying battle for the town, which Turkish forces have been seeking to capture for weeks in the biggest test of their four-month incursion into Syria.

Turkish troops entered Syria on August 24 in support of pro-Ankara Syrian rebels, with the aim of ousting IS jihadists as well as Kurdish militia from the border area.

At least 38 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the operation, which the Turkish government has dubbed Euphrates Shield.

Speaking earlier Thursday, Erdogan vowed no let-up in the ongoing campaign."Yes, maybe we will have to lay martyrs to rest," he said in a speech in Ankara."But we are determined to preserve their memory and protect what they left us and continue this struggle."

Turkey, he said, "is engaged in its most serious struggle since the war of independence" that led to the creation of the modern state in 1923.Turkish television showed distraught relatives of the dead dealing with the news and putting national flags outside their homes.

- 'Difficult fight' -

The earlier stages of Turkey's campaign proceeded with lightning speed and the border town of Jarabulus was taken on the first day of the offensive.But the army has suffered increasing casualties in the fight for Al-Bab -- 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the border.

Defence Minister Fikri Isik told parliament on Thursday that 1,005 IS jihadists and 299 fighters affiliated to the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) had been killed in the operation so far.

Ankara considers the YPG a terror group, even though it works together with the United States as an ally in the fight against IS. The army said the latest clashes erupted around a weapons depot that had been used by IS for the last two years. Al-Bab lies 35 kilometres northeast of Aleppo, which is now under control of government forces in the biggest defeat for rebels in the civil war.Turkey has been a key backer of the rebels and insists the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad is the only way to bring peace to Syria.

But Ankara has stayed out of the most recent battle for Aleppo and worked with Assad's key ally Russia to broker evacuations from the city.

Turkish air strikes on Al-Bab meanwhile killed at least 47 civilians including 14 children and nine women, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. There was no immediate response from the government to the claim.Turkey has also been hit at home by the bloodiest attacks in its modern history, which it blames on jihadists and Kurdish militants. The government is also carrying out a wide-ranging crackdown following an attempted coup in July, which it says was orchestrated by the group of an exiled cleric, Fethullah Gulen.RSS

Happy birthday to Colo: Oldest gorilla in US turns 60

Happy birthday to Colo: Oldest gorilla in US turns 60

2016-12-23 16:28:08.0

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - She is a mother of three, grandmother of 16, great-grandmother of 12 and great-great-grandmother of three. She recently had surgery to remove a malignant tumor, but doctors say she's doing well.

    She's Colo, the nation's oldest living gorilla, and she turned 60 on Thursday at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

    Colo was the first gorilla in the world born in a zoo and has surpassed the usual life expectancy of captive gorillas by two decades. Her longevity is putting a spotlight on the medical care, nutrition and up-to-date therapeutic techniques that are helping lengthen zoo animals' lives.

    "Colo just epitomizes the advances that zoos have made, going all the way back to her birth at Columbus," said Dr. Tom Meehan, vice president for veterinary services at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo and veterinary adviser to a national gorilla species survival plan.

    The changes also mean more animals living with the normal aches and pains of growing older. Today, zoo veterinarians regularly treat animals for heart and kidney disease, arthritis, dental problems and cancer.

    Hundreds of people gathered at the zoo Thursday to see Colo, singing "Happy Birthday" moments before the gorilla ambled into an enclosure decorated with multicolored construction paper chains and filled with cakes such as squash and beet and cornbread with mashed potato parsley frosting.

    Among the first in line was Pam Schlereth of Columbus, who at 63 was just a little girl when her father brought her to see the newborn Colo in a gorilla incubator in 1956.

    "It's a tribute to the zoo that she's alive at 60 years old," Schlereth said.Colo represents so much to the zoo, Tom Stalf, president of the zoo, told the crowd. "It's all about connecting people and wildlife," he said.

    Colo is one of several elderly gorillas around the country. The oldest known living male gorilla, Ozzie, is 55 years old and lives at the Atlanta Zoo, which has a geriatric gorilla specialty.

    At Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, staff members use acupuncture, massage, laser therapy, and heat and joint supplements to help Emma, a 13-year-old rabbit.

    At the National Zoo in Washington, Shanthi, a 42-year-old Asian elephant with arthritis, receives osteoarthritis therapy and was recently fitted with specially crafted front foot boots to help her feet heal as medications are applied.

    In Oakland, California, Tiki, a 27-year-old giraffe and one of the oldest in the nation, gets foot care, massage therapy, acupuncture and chiropractic care, along with traditional veterinary medicine. Gao Gao, a 26-year-old male panda at the San Diego Zoo with a heart condition, periodically undergoes cardiac ultrasounds.

    "Geriatrics is probably one of our most common medical challenges that we face in a zoo situation," said Dr. Keith Hinshaw, director of animal health at the Philadelphia Zoo. "So pretty much anything that you could imagine would happen with an older person is going to happen eventually with any animal."

    That's up to and including medication: JJ, a 45-year-old orangutan at the Toledo Zoo, is on the human heart medicines carvedilol and Lisinopril, along with pain and orthopedic medications. He also takes Metamucil.

    Colo, a western lowland gorilla, holds several other records. On her 56th birthday in 2012, she exceeded the record for longest-lived gorilla. On Thursday, she surpasses the median life expectancy for female gorillas in human care (37.5 years) by more than two decades.

    Other age-defying zoo animals:

POLAR BEAR

    Coldilocks, a 36-year-old polar bear at the Philadelphia Zoo and considered the oldest polar bear in the U.S. The bears' typical lifespan in captivity is 23 years. The zoo says treating her early for kidney disease appears to have helped prolong her life. RHINO

    Elly, an eastern black rhino at the San Francisco Zoo estimated to be 46 years old, is the oldest of her species in North America. She has had 14 calves, and her offspring have produced 15 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild. ELEPHANT

    Packy, an Asian elephant at the Oregon Zoo, and at 54, the oldest male of his species in North America. The zoo says Packy, born in 1962, became the first elephant to be born in the Western Hemisphere in 44 years.

MONKEY

    Nikko, a 33-year-old snow monkey at the Minnesota Zoo, the oldest male snow monkey in North America.

CHIMPANZEE

    Little Mama, a chimpanzee living at Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Florida, with an estimated age in her late 70s. She takes allergy medicine, iron supplements and omega 3 multivitamins, and has been trained to accept a nebulizer treatment for coughing.

TORTOISE

    Emerson, a Galapagos tortoise at the Toledo Zoo in Ohio, whose age is estimated at about 100. Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/andrew-welsh-huggins This story has been corrected to show that Tiki the giraffe is in Oakland, California, not San Francisco.