TEHRAN: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday defended his government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak in the face of widespread criticism that officials acted too slowly and may have even covered up initial cases before infections rapidly spread across the country.
Iran has been the hardest hit country in the region, with nearly 1,000 dead and roughly 90 percent of the over 18,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the Middle East. Its leadership announced Tuesday that “millions” could die in the Islamic Republic if people keep traveling and ignore health guidance.
In a speech to his Cabinet, Rouhani said the government was “straightforward” with the nation, saying it announced the outbreak as soon as it learned about it on Feb. 19.
“We spoke to people in an honest way. We had no delay,” he added.
The government has come under heavy criticism for what has been seen as a slow and inadequate response. For weeks, government officials implored clerics to shut down crowded holy shrines to stymie the spread of the virus. The government finally closed the shrines this week.
“It was difficult of course to shut down mosques and holy sites, but we did it. It was a religious duty to do it,” Rouhani said.
The outbreak has cast a shadow over the Persian New Year, Nowruz, a normally joyous holiday that begins on Friday. Health officials have urged the public to avoid travel and crowded places. But many seem to be ignoring the warnings, raising the risk of further outbreaks.
Some food markets in the capital, Tehran, were still packed on Wednesday, and highways were crowded with traffic as families traveled between cities. Iran also announced it would close mosques for communal Friday prayers for a third consecutive week.
Iranian president rejects criticism of coronavirus response
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Iranian president rejects criticism of coronavirus response
- Iran has been the hardest hit country in the region, with nearly 1,000 dead
- Iranian leadership said that ‘millions’ could die if people keep traveling and ignore health guidance
Amnesty says Israeli attacks on Lebanon health sector should be probed as war crimes
- Amnesty said it investigated four Israeli attacks on health facilities and vehicles in Beirut and south Lebanon from October 3 to 9 last year that killed 19 health care workers, wounded 11 others and “damaged or destroyed medical facilities”
BEIRUT, Lebanon: Amnesty International said on Wednesday that Israel’s attacks on ambulances, paramedics and health facilities during its recent war with Hezbollah should be investigated as war crimes.
A November 27 truce agreement largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of all-out war during which Israel sent in ground troops.
During the conflict, the Israeli military accused the Iran-backed group of using ambulances belonging to the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee for transporting fighters and weapons, accusations the group denied.
According to Amnesty, “the Israeli military’s repeated unlawful attacks during the war in Lebanon on health facilities, ambulances and health workers, which are protected under international law, must be investigated as war crimes.”
It urged the Lebanese government to provide the International Criminal Court with “jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes within the Rome Statute committed on Lebanese territory, and ensure victims’ right to remedy.”
In December, Lebanon’s then health minister Firass Abiad said that during the hostilities, there were “67 attacks on hospitals, including 40 hospitals that were directly targeted,” killing 16 people.
“There were 238 attacks on emergency response organizations, with 206 dead,” he said, adding that 256 emergency vehicles including fire trucks and ambulances were also “targeted.”
Amnesty said it investigated four Israeli attacks on health facilities and vehicles in Beirut and south Lebanon from October 3 to 9 last year that killed 19 health care workers, wounded 11 others and “damaged or destroyed multiple ambulances and two medical facilities.”
“Amnesty International did not find evidence that the facilities or vehicles were being used for military purposes at the time of the attacks,” the statement said.
The rights group said it wrote to the Israeli military in November with its findings but had not received a response by the time of publication.
“The Israeli military has not provided sufficient justifications, or specific evidence of military targets being present at the strike locations” to account for the “repeated attacks, which weakened a fragile health care system and put lives at risk,” Amnesty added.
According to Lebanese authorities, more than 4,000 people were killed in more than the year of hostilities.
Swathes of the south and east and parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs were heavily damaged in the Israeli bombardment, with reconstruction costs expected to top $10 billion, Lebanese authorities have said.
Israel security agency acknowledges failure in preventing October 7 attack
- The acknowledgement comes days after an Israeli military investigations noted similar failings to protect Israelis during the attack, which left hundreds dead and sparked a devastating war in the Gaza Strip
JERUSALEM: Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet acknowledged on Tuesday its failure in preventing Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, saying that if it had acted differently the deadliest day in Israel’s history could have been averted.
The Internal Security Agency, as it is formally known, said that an internal probe “reveals that if the Shin Bet had acted differently, both in the years leading up to the attack and on the night of the attack... the massacre could have been prevented.”
The acknowledgement comes days after an Israeli military investigations noted similar failings to protect Israelis during the attack, which left hundreds dead and sparked a devastating war in the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.
In the opening lines of the summary of findings from the Shin Bet investigation, the agency’s chief Ronen Bar takes responsiblity for failures, saying that “as the head of the organization, I will bear this heavy burden on my shoulders for the rest of my life.”
However, he added that in order to truly understand how the unprecedented attack was not stopped, there needed to be a broader probe into the role of Israel’s security and political elements and the cooperation between them.
According to the summary, the investigation focused on two key areas — the direct reasons that led to the Shin Bet failing to recognize the immediate threat from Hamas, and the developments preceding the attack.
It noted that “the investigation found no indication that the Shin Bet underestimated the enemy,” Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“On the contrary, there was a deep understanding of the threat, initiatives, and a desire to neutralize the threat, particularly targeting Hamas leadership,” the summary said.
The investigation found that prior knowledge of a Hamas attack plan was not treated as an “actionable threat” and there was an overarching assessment that Hamas was more focused on “inciting violence” in the occupied West Bank.
Additionally, the investigation found that “a policy of quiet had enabled Hamas to undergo massive military buildup,” with financial aid from Qatar going directly to Hamas’s military wing.
In conclusion, the agency said in its summary, “the Shin Bet failed to provide a warning regarding the scope of the attack and the large-scale raid by Hamas” that sparked months of war in Gaza.
“The warning issued on the night of October 7 was not translated into operational directives, and the response given by the Shin Bet... was insufficient to prevent or thwart the large scale attack.”
In the military inquiry, which includes 77 separate investigations into what transpired in communities, army bases and multiple confrontation points around the Gaza periphery, the army noted flaws in its intelligence assessments of Hamas, including the group’s military capabilities and overall intentions.
“We did not even imagine such a scenario,” said an army official who had briefed the media ahead of the probe’s release on Thursday.
The official said the army had not maintained “a comprehensive understanding of the enemy’s military capabilities” and that it was “overconfident in its knowledge.”
“We were addicted to precise intel,” a second senior military official said at the same briefing, explaining that despite signs Hamas was preparing to attack, the army was too focused on what it believed was accurate information.
Also following the publication of the findings of the army’s investigation, the outgoing chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said that he took full responsibility for failing to predict or stop the attack.
In addition to Halevi, the head of the military’s southern command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, and military intelligence chief Major General Aharon Haliva have both stepped down.
Lebanon, Syria leaders commit to managing border incidents
- Hezbollah lost its key supply route from backer Iran through Syria after Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) rebels ousted Assad
CAIRO: Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun held talks Tuesday with his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Cairo, during which the pair agreed on containing incidents along their shared border.
Syria shares a 330-kilometer (205-mile) border with Lebanon, with no official demarcation at various points, rendering it porous and prone to smuggling.
Syria and Lebanon have a fraught history of conflict and violence, with the ouster in December of Assad after five decades of rule by his clan, offering an opening for a new start.
Aoun’s January 9 election ended a two-year-long presidential vacuum in Lebanon, after Hezbollah, long the country’s dominant force, suffered staggering losses in a war with Israel.
Hezbollah also lost its key supply route from backer Iran through Syria after Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) rebels ousted Assad.
Sharaa then became Syria’s interim president.
“President Aoun and Syria’s President Sharaa tackled several issues,” the Lebanese presidency said on X Tuesday, adding that they agreed on “the need to control the border between the two countries.”
While Aoun and Sharaa had spoken by phone in February, Tuesday marked their first in-person meeting.
Syria’s new authorities announced last month the launch of a security campaign in the border province of Homs, aimed at shutting down arms and goods smuggling routes.
They accused Hezbollah of launching attacks, saying it was sponsoring cross-border smuggling gangs.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, the security campaign targeted drug smugglers and operators from the area with links to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah fought side by side with Assad’s troops after intervening in the Syrian civil war, which the ousted leader sparked by cracking down on democracy protests in 2011.
Infants as young as one raped in Sudan
- The UN agency cited a database compiled by Sudan-based groups helping survivors of sexual violence, which showed that of 221 cases involving children registered since last year, 16 were under five years old, including four one-year-olds
GENEVA: Children under five, including babies, are among the victims of sexual violence in the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, according to findings shared on Tuesday by UN children’s agency UNICEF.
The UN agency cited a database compiled by Sudan-based groups helping survivors of sexual violence, which showed that of 221 cases involving children registered since last year, 16 were under five years old, including four one-year-olds. About one-third of victims were male, it said.
The database includes cases from across the country, but aid workers and rights groups think it represents just a fraction of the cases because stigma, fear of reprisals and lack of access to medical facilities limit reporting.
Some of the survivors cited by UNICEF say they became pregnant as a result of the assaults, resulting in rejection by relatives and additional hardships.
One woman who was held in captivity with other women and girls was quoted saying, “After nine at night, someone opens the door, carrying a whip, selects one of the girls, and takes her to another room. I could hear the little girl crying and screaming.”
“They only release these girls at dawn, and they return almost unconscious.”
UNICEF did not say who was responsible for the child rapes, calling on both sides to respect international law. Neither the RSF nor the army immediately responded to requests for comment.
“Children as young as one being raped by armed men should shock anyone to their core and compel immediate action,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement sent to journalists.
War erupted in April 2023 from a power struggle between the army and the RSF ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, triggering huge displacement and hunger crises.
A UN fact-finding mission has described levels of sexual abuse as “staggering.” The majority of known cases were perpetrated by the RSF and its allies, the mission said, noting it was more difficult to report in army-controlled territories.
There have been reports about women who said they were gang raped in ethnically targeted attacks by the RSF and allied Arab militiamen.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said last week that over half of reported rape cases in Sudan were gang rape, “an indication that sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war.”
The RSF has previously said it would investigate allegations and bring perpetrators to justice.
Morocco adds prison time for activist jailed over earthquake response criticism
RABAT: A Moroccan appeals court on Tuesday handed activist Said Ait Mahdi a one-year prison term, up from the initial three-month term he had been sentenced to for defamation, his lawyer said.
Ait Mahdi, who leads a group for victims of a major 2023 earthquake, has been in detention since December 23 after criticizing the kingdom’s response to the disaster.
In January, a Marrakech court had sentenced him to three months in jail for “defamation, insult and the publication of false allegations aimed at infringing on privacy.”
On Tuesday, the Marrakech appeals court “increased the sentence... to one year” behind bars, lawyer Mohamed El Ghalloussi told AFP, calling it a “very harsh and shocking” ruling.
Three other defendants in the case who had been initially acquitted were given four months in jail each for “insulting public officials,” the lawyer said.
According to Ghalloussi, the case was based on “complaints from local officials following social media posts they considered offensive.”
El Haouz province, to the south of Marrakech, was one of the areas hit hardest by the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the region in September 2023, killing close to 3,000 people and wounding 5,600.
It also destroyed around 60,000 homes in the High Atlas mountains, forcing many families to live in tents through the winter.
Ait Mahdi’s group has campaigned for faster reconstruction and more aid to those affected.
The Moroccan authorities said in December they had issued 57,000 reconstruction permits and that more than 35,000 homes had been or were in the process of being rebuilt.
The authorities have put in place an $11 billion, five-year reconstruction and development plan for the six provinces hit by the disaster.
