Middle East coronavirus - first death in Egypt and Bahrain F1 to take place without spectators

Medical staff in protective gear distribute information sheets to Iraqi passengers returning from Iran at Najaf International Airport. (AFP)
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Updated 09 March 2020
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Middle East coronavirus - first death in Egypt and Bahrain F1 to take place without spectators

  • The UAE's health ministry said over 620 school buildings and 6,000 buses were sterilised
  • Kuwait’s Health Ministry has denied rumors on social media about the death of an elderly woman from coronavirus

DUBAI: Countries across the Middle East were on high alert as the disease continues to spread around the world. Governments have asked people to follow precautionary measures to help prevent the spread of the virus, including avoiding crowded public spaces.

Sunday, March 08 (All times in GMT)

21:45 – A third person in the UK infected with coronavirus has died. The patient was over 60 years old and had significant underlying health conditions.

 

 

21:40 Riyadh Boulevard and Winter Wonderland in the Saudi capital have been closed over coronavirus fears.

20:20 – Qatar bans arrival from 14 countries in an attempt to stop coronavirus spreading to the country.

20:10 – France bans all gatherings of more than 1,000 people in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Health Minister Olivier Veran said.

19:55 – Saudi Arabia announces the suspension of all educational and Quranic activities inside the Kingdom's mosques, Al Ekhbariya reported.

18:30 – Saudi Arabia has closed all schools and universities from Monday in response to the coronavirus. The education ministry said teachers would have to use distance learning techniques to continue lessons.

17:50  Israel is considering measures that would require anyone arriving in the country to go into home quarantine for 14 days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.

17:30 – Italy coronavirus death toll shoots up to 366 from 233 the day before.

17:10 – France says it has has recorded 1,126 confirmed coronavirus cases and 19 deaths in total.

16:55  Thirteen Americans quarantined in a West Bank hotel on suspicion of having caught the coronavirus have tested negative.

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READ MORE: OPINION: Iran’s epidemic of lies and disinformation

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16:50 – Egypt announces its first death from the coronavirus epidemic - a 60-year-old German tourist.

16:40 – Alitalia said on Sunday it was suspending national and international flights to and from Milan's Malpensa airport from March 9 after the government ordered a lockdown of large areas of northern Italy to stem coronavirus contagion.

16:20 – Egyptian crew and foreign passengers on a Nile cruise ship on which 45 suspected novel coronavirus cases had been detected disembarked Sunday in the southern city of Luxor.
The health ministry has said the 45 would be quarantined even though 11 of them had tested negative in follow-up tests.




prepare to transport suspected coronavirus cases that were detected on a Nile cruise ship in Luxor. (AFP)

15:43 – Iraq confirmed two further deaths due to the coronavirus, taking the total number to six, the state news agency reported on Sunday.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases climbed to 54 so far, according to health officials.

13:45 – Anthony Fauci, the US's head of the infectious diseases unit at the National Institutes of Health, says signs of coronavirus spreading through communities were "not encouraging" and warned that Americans may need to think carefully about attending large gatherings if it continues.
"I think we're getting a better sense (of the scope of the outbreak) as the days go by," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

13:35 – The US Army said on Sunday it has decided to restrict travel to and from Italy and South Korea due to coronavirus outbreaks, and will also prohibit foreign troops from participating in US exercises, exchanges and visits in the most affected nations.

13:04 – Morocco has suspended flights to Italy's Milan and Venice over coronavirus concerns.

12:25 – Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday that it will suspend movement to and from Qatif as a precaution to the spread of coronavirus.

The ministry has also temporarily shut down government and private sector work premises in the governorate.

11:52 – Kuwait has announced two new coronavirus cases, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the country to 64.

11:50 – Italy’s Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora called Sunday for an immediate suspension of the Serie A season due to the coronavirus outbreak that has killed 233 people in the country.
“It makes no sense right now, as we ask citizens to make enormous sacrifices to prevent the spread of the virus, to endanger the lives of players, referees, coaching staff and fans who will surely gather to watch the matches, by not temporarily suspending football,” he wrote in a statement on his Facebook page.

11:44 – The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Algeria increased to 20.

11:16 – Qatar has announced three new coronavirus cases in the country, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 15.

10:38  Iran reports 49 new coronavirus fatalities, bringing death toll to 194 people amid 6,566 confirmed cases.

10:35 – Bangladesh confirmed its first three cases of coronavirus in the country, said the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
The affected people are aged between 20 and 35 and two of them returned from Italy recently, IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina told reporters. 

10:03 Indonesia confirmed on Sunday that two more people had tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the total of confirmed cases in the country to six.
One of the Indonesians is a 36-year-old male, a crew member on the Japan-docked Diamond Princess cruise ship where he contracted the virus, Health Ministry official Achmad Yurianto told a news briefing.

09:10 – Saudi Arabia’s health ministry announces  four new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 11. Three of them were in contact with a previous case who had traveled from Iran.

08:30 - Bahrain says its Formula One race this month will be for ‘participants only’ without spectators over coronavirus fears.

07:43 - Kuwait announced a new coronavirus case, bringing the total number to 62.

05:12 - Italy has closed cinemas, theatres, museums nationwide in virus lockdown, a government official said.

04:42 - More than 15 million people were placed under forced quarantine in northern Italy early Sunday as the government approved drastic measures in an attempt to halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus that is sweeping the globe.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Twitter he had signed off on plans to strictly limit movement in and out of large areas including Venice and the financial capital Milan for nearly a month.

Opinion

This section contains relevant reference points, placed in (Opinion field)

03:50 - In Oman, chartered flights between the country and Egypt have been suspended for a month, the Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) announced.

"After coordination with the competent authorities, the Public Authority suspended irregular (chartered) flights between the Sultanate and the Arab Republic of Egypt, starting Sunday, for a period of one month,” PACA said in a statement.

Saturday, March 07 (All times in GMT)

19:41 - The UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention held a press conference on Saturday to discuss the preventive measures it took against the spread of coronavirus in the country.

The ministry explained the procedures taken with regards to the UAE Tour’s participants. The quarantined contacts included 26 hotel visitors, 56 athletes and 236 hotel staff, the ministry said.

The ministry added that over 620 school buildings and 6,000 buses were sterilised.

Meanwhile, more than 168,000 students started to benefit from the pilot programme across the country, the ministry said.

This video explaining how COVID-19 transmits person to person was produced by the World Health Organisation

17:51 - Kuwait’s health ministry has denied rumors on social media about the death of an elderly woman from the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

15:32 - Kuwait's health ministry called on people arriving from seven countries to observe a mandatory 14-day home quarantine from the date of departure.

The seven countries are: India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt.

11:50 - Oman's Ministry of Health said it had decided to postpone all international conferences and events.

"Within the framework of the efforts exerted by the Ministry to tackle the Coronavirus disease, the Ministry has recommended the suspension of all gatherings, events, and international conferences in the Sultanate, which hosts participants from outside the Sultanate until further notice," Ministry of Health said.


What to know about sudden rebel gains in Syria’s 13-year war and why it matters

Updated 30 November 2024
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What to know about sudden rebel gains in Syria’s 13-year war and why it matters

  • It was the first opposition attack on Aleppo since 2016, when an air campaign by Russian warplanes helped Syrian President Bashar Assad retake the northwestern city
  • The roughly 30 percent of the country not under Assad is controlled by a range of opposition forces and foreign troops, including Turkish and US forces and their allies

WASHINGTON: The 13-year civil war in Syria has roared back into prominence with a surprise rebel offensive on Aleppo, one of Syria’s largest cities and an ancient business hub. The push is among the rebels’ strongest in years in a war whose destabilizing effects have rippled far beyond the country’s borders.
It was the first opposition attack on Aleppo since 2016, when a brutal air campaign by Russian warplanes helped Syrian President Bashar Assad retake the northwestern city. Intervention by Russia, Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and other groups has allowed Assad to remain in power, within the 70 percent of Syria under his control.
The surge in fighting has raised the prospect of another violent front reopening in the Middle East, at a time when US-backed Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Robert Ford, the last-serving US ambassador to Syria, pointed to months of Israeli strikes on Syrian and Hezbollah targets in the area, and to Israel’s ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon this week, as factors providing Syria’s rebels with the opportunity to advance.
Here’s a look at some of the key aspects of the new fighting:
Why does the fighting at Aleppo matter?
Assad has been at war with opposition forces seeking his overthrow for 13 years, a conflict that’s killed an estimated half-million people. Some 6.8 million Syrians have fled the country, a refugee flow that helped change the political map in Europe by fueling anti-immigrant far-right movements.
The roughly 30 percent of the country not under Assad is controlled by a range of opposition forces and foreign troops. The US has about 900 troops in northeast Syria, far from Aleppo, to guard against a resurgence by the Daesh group. Both the US and Israel conduct occasional strikes in

 

Syria against government forces and Iran-allied militias. Turkiye has forces in Syria as well, and has influence with the broad alliance of opposition forces storming Aleppo.
Coming after years with few sizeable changes in territory between Syria’s warring parties, the fighting “has the potential to be really quite, quite consequential and potentially game-changing,” if Syrian government forces prove unable to hold their ground, said Charles Lister, a longtime Syria analyst with the US-based Middle East Institute. Risks include if Daesh fighters see it as an opening, Lister said.
Ford said the fighting in Aleppo would become more broadly destabilizing if it drew Russia and Turkiye — each with its own interests to protect in Syria — into direct heavy fighting against each other. 

The US and UN have long designated the opposition force leading the attack at Aleppo — Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, known by its initials HTS — as a terrorist organization.
Its leader, Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, emerged as the leader of Al-Qaeda’s Syria branch in 2011, in the first months of Syria’s war. His fight was an unwelcome intervention to many in Syria’s opposition, who hoped to keep the fight against Assad’s brutal rule untainted by violent extremism.
Golani early on claimed responsibility for deadly bombings, pledged to attack Western forces and sent religious police to enforce modest dress by women.
Golani has sought to remake himself in recent years. He renounced his Al-Qaeda ties in 2016. He’s disbanded his religious police force, cracked down on extremist groups in his territory, and portrayed himself as a protector of other religions. That includes last year allowing the first Christian Mass in the city of Idlib in years.
What’s the history of Aleppo in the war?
At the crossroads of trade routes and empires for thousands of years, Aleppo is one of the centers of commerce and culture in the Middle East.
Aleppo was home to 2.3 million people before the war. Rebels seized the east side of the city in 2012, and it became the proudest symbol of the advance of armed opposition factions.
In 2016, government forces backed by Russian airstrikes laid siege to the city. Russian shells, missiles and crude barrel bombs — fuel canisters or other containers loaded with explosives and metal — methodically leveled neighborhoods. Starving and under siege, rebels surrendered Aleppo that year.
The Russian military’s entry was the turning point in the war, allowing Assad to stay on in the territory he held.
This year, Israeli airstrikes in Aleppo have hit Hezbollah weapons depots and Syrian forces, among other targets, according to an independent monitoring group. Israel rarely acknowledges strikes at Aleppo and other government-held areas of Syria.


As Syrian rebels sweep into Aleppo, army closes airport and roads, sources say

Updated 30 November 2024
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As Syrian rebels sweep into Aleppo, army closes airport and roads, sources say

AMMAN: Syrian authorities closed Aleppo airport as well as all roads leading into the city on Saturday, three military sources told Reuters, as rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad said they had reached the heart of Aleppo.
The opposition fighters, led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, carried out a surprise sweep through government-held towns this week and reached Aleppo nearly a decade after having been forced out by Assad and his allies.
Russia, one of Assad’s key allies, has promised Damascus extra military aid to thwart the rebels, two military sources said, adding new hardware would start arriving in the next 72 hours.
The Syrian army has been told to follow “safe withdrawal” orders from the main areas of the city that the rebels have entered, three army sources said.
The rebels began their incursion on Wednesday and by late Friday an operations room representing the offensive said they were sweeping through various neighborhoods of Aleppo.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Rebels opposed to Assad return to city after nearly a decade

• Aleppo airport has been closed, military sources say

• Damascus expects Russian hardware to arrive soon, sources say

They are returning to the city for the first time since 2016, when Assad and his allies Russia, Iran, and regional Shiite militias retook it, with the insurgents agreeing to withdraw after months of bombardment and siege.
Mustafa Abdul Jaber, a commander in the Jaish Al-Izza rebel brigade, said their speedy advance this week had been helped by a lack of Iran-backed manpower in the broader Aleppo province. Iran’s allies in the region have suffered a series of blows at the hands of Israel as the Gaza war has expanded through the Middle East.
The opposition fighters have said the campaign was in response to stepped-up strikes in recent weeks against civilians by the Russian and Syrian air force on areas in rebel-held Idlib, and to preempt any attacks by the Syrian army.
Opposition sources in touch with Turkish intelligence said Turkiye, which supports the rebels, had given a green light to the offensive.
But Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said on Friday that Turkiye sought to avoid greater instability in the region and had warned recent attacks undermined de-escalation agreements.
The attack is the biggest since March 2020, when Russia and Turkiye agreed to a deal to de-escalate the conflict.

CIVILIANS KILLED IN FIGHTING
On Friday, Syrian state television denied rebels had reached the city and said Russia was providing Syria’s military with air support.
The Syrian military said it was fighting back against the attack and had inflicted heavy losses on the insurgents in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib.
David Carden, UN Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, said: “We’re deeply alarmed by the situation unfolding in northwest Syria.”
“Relentless attacks over the past three days have claimed the lives of at least 27 civilians, including children as young as 8 years old.”
Syrian state news agency SANA said four civilians including two students were killed on Friday in Aleppo by insurgent shelling of university student dormitories. It was not clear if they were among the 27 dead reported by the UN official.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.
“We are in favor of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible,” he said.

 

 


2 migrants dead, one missing off Tunisia: reports

Updated 30 November 2024
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2 migrants dead, one missing off Tunisia: reports

  • Tunisia and neighboring Libya have become key departure points for migrants
  • Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing

TUNIS: Two unidentified bodies were recovered off Tunisia’s eastern coast after a migrant boat capsized, local media reported on Friday, with one person still missing and 28 rescued.
Most of the passengers were Tunisian, according to the reports, which said that the boat had set sail from Teboulba, a coastal town some 180 kilometers south of the capital Tunis.
Tunisia and neighboring Libya have become key departure points for migrants, often from other African countries, who risk perilous Mediterranean Sea journeys in the hopes of reaching better lives in Europe.
Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing. Italy, whose Lampedusa Island is only 150 kilometers (90 miles) from Tunisia, is often their first port of call.
In late October, the bodies of 15 people believed to be migrants were recovered by authorities in Monastir, eastern Tunisia.
And in late September, 36 would-be migrants — mainly Tunisians — were rescued off Bizerte in northern Tunisia.
Since January 1, at least 103 makeshift boats have capsized and 341 bodies have been recovered off Tunisia’s coast, according to the interior ministry.
More than 1,300 people died or disappeared last year in shipwrecks off the North African country, according to the Tunisian FTDES rights group.
The International Organization for Migration has said that more than 30,309 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the past decade, including more than 3,000 last year.


Iraq tries to stem influx of illegal foreign workers

An Iraqi policeman checks the ID of a driver at a checkpoint in Mosul on February 22, 2018. (AFP)
Updated 30 November 2024
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Iraq tries to stem influx of illegal foreign workers

  • The Labor Ministry says the influx is mainly from Syria, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, also citing 40,000 registered immigrant workers

KARBALA: Rami, a Syrian worker in Iraq, spends his 16-hour shifts at a restaurant fearing arrest as authorities crack down on undocumented migrants in the country better known for its own exodus.
He is one of hundreds of thousands of foreigners working without permits in Iraq, which, after emerging from decades of conflict, has become an unexpected destination for many seeking opportunities.
“I’ve been able to avoid the security forces and checkpoints,” said the 27-year-old, who has lived in Iraq for seven years and asked that AFP use a pseudonym to protect his identity.
Between 10 in the morning and 2 a.m. the next day, he toils at a shawarma shop in the holy city of Karbala, where millions of pilgrims congregate every year.
“My greatest fear is to be expelled back to Syria, where I’d have to do military service,” he said.

BACKGROUND

Authorities are trying to regulate the number of foreign workers as the country seeks to diversify from the dominant hydrocarbons sector.

The Labor Ministry says the influx is mainly from Syria, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, also citing 40,000 registered immigrant workers.
Now, the authorities are trying to regulate the number of foreign workers as the country seeks to diversify from the currently dominant hydrocarbons sector.
Many, like Rami, work in the service industry in Iraq.
One Baghdad restaurant owner admitted that he has to play cat and mouse with the authorities during inspections, asking some employees to make themselves scarce.
He said that not all those who work for him are registered because of the costly fees involved.
Some of the undocumented workers in Iraq first came as pilgrims. In July, Labour Minister Ahmed Assadi said his services investigated information that “50,000 Pakistani visitors” stayed on “to work illegally.”
Despite threats of expulsion because of the scale of the issue, the authorities, at the end of November, launched a scheme for “Syrian, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani workers” to regularize their employment by applying online before Dec. 25.
The ministry says it will take legal action against anyone who brings in or employs undocumented foreign workers.
Rami has decided to play safe, even though “I want” to acquire legal employment status.
“But I’m afraid,” he said. “I’m waiting to see what my friends do, and then I’ll do the same.”
Current Iraqi law caps the number of foreign workers a company can employ at 50 percent, but the authorities now want to lower this to 30 percent.
“Today we only allow qualified workers for jobs requiring skills” that are not currently available, Labor Ministry spokesman Nijm Al-Aqabi said.
It’s a sensitive issue — for the past two decades, even a foreign workforce has dominated the robust oil sector. But now the authorities are seeking to favor Iraqis.
“There are large companies contracted to the government” which have been asked to limit “foreign worker numbers to 30 percent,” said Aqabi.
“This is in the interests of the domestic labor market,” he said, as 1.6 million Iraqis are unemployed.
He recognized that each household has the right to employ a foreign domestic worker, claiming this was work Iraqis did not want to do.
One agency launched in 2021 that brings in domestic workers from Niger, Ghana, and Ethiopia confirms the high demand.
“Before, we used to bring in 40 women, but now it’s around 100” a year, said an employee at the agency.
The employee said it was a trend picked up from rich countries in the Gulf.
“The situation in Iraq is getting better, and with higher salaries, Iraqi homeowners are looking for comfort.”
A domestic worker earns about $230 a month, but the authorities have quintupled the registration fee, with a work permit now costing more than $800.
In the summer, Human Rights Watch denounced what it called a campaign of arbitrary arrests and expulsions targeting Syrians, even those with the necessary paperwork.
HRW said that raids targeted both homes and workplaces.
Ahmed — another pseudonym — is a 31-year-old Syrian who has been undocumented in Iraq for the past year and a half.
He began as a cook in Baghdad and later moved to Karbala.
“Life is hard here — we don’t have any rights,” he said
“We come in illegally, and the security forces are after us.”
His wife did not accompany him. She stayed in Syria.
“I’d go back if I could,” said Ahmed. “But life there is very difficult. There’s no work.”

 


Family returns to Lebanon to find a crater where their 50-year-old home once stood

Updated 29 November 2024
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Family returns to Lebanon to find a crater where their 50-year-old home once stood

  • Intense Israeli airstrikes over the past two months leveled entire neighborhoods in eastern and southern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut, which are predominantly Shiite areas of Lebanon where Hezbollah has a strong base of support

BAALBEK, Lebanon: In eastern Lebanon’s city of Baalbek, the Jawhari family gathered around a gaping crater where their home once stood, tears streaming as they tried to make sense of the destruction.
“It is heart-breaking. A heartache that there is no way we will ever recover from,” said Lina Jawhari, her voice breaking as she hugged relatives who came to support the family.
“Our world turned upside down in a second.”
The home, which was a gathering place for generations, was reduced to rubble by an Israeli airstrike on Nov. 1, leaving behind shattered memories and twisted fragments of a once-vibrant life.
The family, like thousands of Lebanese, were returning to check on their properties after the US-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect early Wednesday.

BACKGROUND

Israeli airstrikes have left a massive trail of destruction across Lebanon.

Intense Israeli airstrikes over the past two months leveled entire neighborhoods in eastern and southern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced.
The airstrikes have left a massive trail of destruction across the country.
A photo of the Jawhari family’s home — taken on a phone by Louay Mustafa, Lina’s nephew — is a visual reminder of what had been. As the family sifted through the rubble, each fragment recovered called them to gather around it.
A worn letter sparked a collective cheer, while a photo of their late father triggered sobs. Reda Jawhari had built the house for his family and was a craftsman who left behind a legacy of metalwork. The sisters cried and hoped to find a piece of the mosque-church structure built by their father. Minutes later, they lifted a mangled piece of metal from the debris. They clung to it, determined to preserve a piece of his legacy.
“Different generations were raised with love ... Our life was filled with music, dance, and dabke (traditional dance). This is what the house is made up of. And suddenly, they destroyed our world. Our world turned upside down in a second. It is inconceivable. It is inconceivable,” Lina said.
Despite their determination, the pain of losing their home and the memories tied to it remains raw.
Rouba Jawhari, one of four sisters, had one regret.
“We are sad we did not take my mom and dad’s photos with us. If only we took the photos,” she said, clutching an ID card and a bag of photos and letters recovered from the rubble.
“It didn’t cross our mind. We thought it was two weeks and we will be back.”
The airstrike that obliterated the Jawhari home came without warning, striking at 1:30 p.m. on what was otherwise an ordinary Friday.
Their neighbor, Ali Wehbe, also lost his home. He had stepped out for food a few minutes before the missile hit and rushed back to find his brother searching for him under the rubble.
“Every brick holds a memory,” he said, gesturing to his library.
“Under every book you would find a story.”