Today was Lekha's father's third remembrance day. Prayed for his soul and the related ceremony will be carried out on 05 Apr which would be his remembrance day as per the Malayalam calendar. RIP dad!
The end of the Islamic State?
Hundreds of Islamic state militants along with women and children surrendered to the US backed forces in eastern Syria on Thursday as the jihadists lost ground in their last bastion. Many of the men were limping as they crossed out of the Baghouz enclave along a dirt path over a rocky hill, with weeping children and fully veiled women, dragging suitcases and backpacks behind them.
Some men trudged along on crutches with bandages wrapped around their legs. Women hoisted children on to their shoulders to get them up the hill, leaving strollers and blankets behind in the dust. Adnan Afrin, a commander in the Syrian Democratic Forces(SDF), said hundreds of people were emerging, adding to the many thousands who have streamed out of Baghouz in recent weeks. "They are coming out this way in case there are snipers or someone wants to attack."
SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said about 1,300 jihadists and their families came out on Thursday. SDF fighters said they included foreigners. The militants surrendered during a pause in the US-backed assault to seize the final patch of of populated Islamic State territory - a self-declared "Caliphate" that once spanned a third of Iraq and Syria.
Explosions rang out at the front line as artillery fire pounded Baghouz and warplanes buzzed overhead. The SDF, which the Kurdish YPG militia spearheads, said the jihadists had deployed more than 20 suicide bombers in counterattacks in the last two days. It said at least 112 militants have been killed since it resumed the offensive at the weekend. No Islamic State commanders are believed to be in Baghouz village, a US defence official has said. US government experts strongly believe its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive and possibly hiding in Iraq.
The jihadists are still assessed to be a potent security threat with a foothold in remote areas and widely expected to escalate a wave of guerrilla attacks.
Twisted metal, Fallen Palm Trees
Islamic State redrew the map of West Asia in 2014 when it declared its ultra-radical Sunni Islamist "Caliphate" and established a rule that encompassed mass killings, sexual enslavement and meting out punishments such as crucifixion.
The militants suffered their major military defeats in 2017, when they lost the cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. They were then forced down the River Euphrates to their last bastion at Baghouz, a cluster of hamlets on the eastern bank. In part of the Islamic State encampment which the SDF seized a few days ago, collapsed tents and fallen palm trees lay among a scattering of rubble and twisted metal. Dirty, ripped blankets, carpets, mattresses and abandoned motorcycles littered the ground.
The SDF assault had been postponed repeatedly over the last few weeks to evacuate people from the enclave, many of them wives and children of fighters. Overall, tens of thousands have fled Islamic State's shrinking territory in recent months. The SDF has mostly transferred them to a camp at al-Hol in the northeast.
The UN says the camp now holds around 67,000 people, 90% of them women and children - well beyond its capacity. Camp workers say they do not have enough tents, food or medicine. They have warned about the spread of diseases.
Aid agencies say scores of people - mostly children - have died en route to the camp or shortly after arrival.
*Adapted from the Top News, Reuters.
Tailpiece.
Got up along with the alarm, went through our chores and were ready well within our usual time. Lekha had gone for her weekly 'darshan' of Guruvayoorappan and bought grocery on return. Ramesh and Ramesh had come by to trim and deweed the grass patch in the courtyard, trim the coconut palm and remove the grass at the backyard. And they worked under the hot sun, before lunch!
The end of the Islamic State?
Hundreds of Islamic state militants along with women and children surrendered to the US backed forces in eastern Syria on Thursday as the jihadists lost ground in their last bastion. Many of the men were limping as they crossed out of the Baghouz enclave along a dirt path over a rocky hill, with weeping children and fully veiled women, dragging suitcases and backpacks behind them.
Some men trudged along on crutches with bandages wrapped around their legs. Women hoisted children on to their shoulders to get them up the hill, leaving strollers and blankets behind in the dust. Adnan Afrin, a commander in the Syrian Democratic Forces(SDF), said hundreds of people were emerging, adding to the many thousands who have streamed out of Baghouz in recent weeks. "They are coming out this way in case there are snipers or someone wants to attack."
SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said about 1,300 jihadists and their families came out on Thursday. SDF fighters said they included foreigners. The militants surrendered during a pause in the US-backed assault to seize the final patch of of populated Islamic State territory - a self-declared "Caliphate" that once spanned a third of Iraq and Syria.
Explosions rang out at the front line as artillery fire pounded Baghouz and warplanes buzzed overhead. The SDF, which the Kurdish YPG militia spearheads, said the jihadists had deployed more than 20 suicide bombers in counterattacks in the last two days. It said at least 112 militants have been killed since it resumed the offensive at the weekend. No Islamic State commanders are believed to be in Baghouz village, a US defence official has said. US government experts strongly believe its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive and possibly hiding in Iraq.
The jihadists are still assessed to be a potent security threat with a foothold in remote areas and widely expected to escalate a wave of guerrilla attacks.
Twisted metal, Fallen Palm Trees
Islamic State redrew the map of West Asia in 2014 when it declared its ultra-radical Sunni Islamist "Caliphate" and established a rule that encompassed mass killings, sexual enslavement and meting out punishments such as crucifixion.
The militants suffered their major military defeats in 2017, when they lost the cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. They were then forced down the River Euphrates to their last bastion at Baghouz, a cluster of hamlets on the eastern bank. In part of the Islamic State encampment which the SDF seized a few days ago, collapsed tents and fallen palm trees lay among a scattering of rubble and twisted metal. Dirty, ripped blankets, carpets, mattresses and abandoned motorcycles littered the ground.
The SDF assault had been postponed repeatedly over the last few weeks to evacuate people from the enclave, many of them wives and children of fighters. Overall, tens of thousands have fled Islamic State's shrinking territory in recent months. The SDF has mostly transferred them to a camp at al-Hol in the northeast.
The UN says the camp now holds around 67,000 people, 90% of them women and children - well beyond its capacity. Camp workers say they do not have enough tents, food or medicine. They have warned about the spread of diseases.
Aid agencies say scores of people - mostly children - have died en route to the camp or shortly after arrival.
*Adapted from the Top News, Reuters.
Tailpiece.
Got up along with the alarm, went through our chores and were ready well within our usual time. Lekha had gone for her weekly 'darshan' of Guruvayoorappan and bought grocery on return. Ramesh and Ramesh had come by to trim and deweed the grass patch in the courtyard, trim the coconut palm and remove the grass at the backyard. And they worked under the hot sun, before lunch!
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