Israel renames settlement after Trump
RAMAT TRUMP, Golan Heights -- The Israeli Cabinet convened in this hamlet of the Israel-controlled Golan Heights on Sunday to inaugurate a small settlement named after President Donald Trump, a gesture of appreciation for his recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the territory.
Previously known as Bruchim, the settlement is over 30 years old, ringed by land mines and has a population of 10 people. It is roughly 12 miles from the Syrian border and a half-hour drive from the nearest Israeli town, Kiryat Shmona, a community of about 20,000 people near the Lebanese border.
But Israel is hoping the rebranded "Ramat Trump," Hebrew for "Trump Heights," will encourage a wave of new residents.
"It's absolutely beautiful," said U.S. Ambassador David Friedman, who attended Sunday's ceremony. Noting that Trump celebrated his birthday on Friday, he said: "I can't think of a more appropriate and a more beautiful birthday present."
Friedman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a sign trimmed in gold with the name "Trump Heights" and adorned with U.S. and Israeli flags.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in 1981. Most of the international community considers the move illegal under international law.
During Netanyahu's visit to Washington in March, Trump signed an executive order recognizing the strategic mountainous plateau as Israeli territory. The decision was widely applauded in Israel.
U.N.-backed Libyan calls for elections
CAIRO -- The head of Libya's U.N.-supported government on Sunday proposed holding nationwide elections to end the war in the North African country.
Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj told a news conference in Tripoli, the capital and the seat of his administration, that he is proposing a "Libyan forum" aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict. The talks would draw up a road map for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held before the end of 2019.
The forces of Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, a rival military commander, are continuing their battle to take Tripoli, now in its third month. There are fears that the battle for the capital could ignite a civil war on the scale of the violence after the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Libya is divided between the weak government of al-Sarraj in the west, and Hifter, whose self-styled Libyan National Army holds the east and much of the south. Hifter opened a military offensive on the capital in early April.
Hifter has presented himself as a strong hand who can restore stability, stop armed groups and halt the number of migrants bound for Europe. His opponents view him as an aspiring autocrat and fear a return to one-man rule.
Turkey calls Syrian attack deliberate
ISTANBUL -- Turkey said Syrian government forces "deliberately" attacked on Sunday a Turkish military observation post in northwestern Syria.
In a statement, the Defense Ministry said Turkish troops responded with "heavy weapons" after the artillery attack in the rebel-held Idlib province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war-monitoring group, said airstrikes from Syrian warplanes struck the southern edge of the rebel-held enclave with nearly 42 raids, including one that hit near the Turkish observation point in Morek.
The strike solicited a Turkish response against Syrian government positions -- the first such retaliation by Turkey. It included missiles and rockets.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday that the country would not tolerate Syrian military attacks on its troops. "We'll put you in your place. Everyone should know their place," he was quoted as saying by the official Anadolu news agency.
U.N. official's west China visit panned
BEIJING -- The United Nations counterterrorism chief visited Xinjiang last week despite protests from the United States and a rights group that the trip would be inappropriate in light of the human-rights conditions in China's far west region.
Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng and reached "broad consensus" on international counterterrorism efforts, according to a statement Sunday from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The U.S., researchers and rights groups estimate that as many as 1 million ethnic Muslims may be arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang, home to the Uighur and Kazakh minority groups.
Former detainees have told The Associated Press that they were held without charge in "re-education centers" where they were forced to denounce their faith and pledge loyalty to the ruling Communist Party. The Chinese government says the centers are vocational training schools.
In a conversation with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan conveyed "deep concerns" about Voronkov's visit.
Human Rights Watch said Friday that the U.N. should have sent a human-rights expert instead of a counterterrorism official.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 06/17/2019