Lockdown at labor camp in Qatar described as coronavirus prison

Migrant workers in Qatar have described being trapped in a coronavirus prison at the country’s largest labor camp. (File/Shutterstock)
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Updated 20 March 2020
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Lockdown at labor camp in Qatar described as coronavirus prison

  • The area is guarded by police, and workers who live there, many of whom had been working on Fifa World Cup 2022 infrastructure projects, cannot leave
  • Some workers have been told to go on unpaid leave until further notice, with only food and accommodation covered

LONDON: Migrant workers in Qatar have described being trapped in a coronavirus prison at the country’s largest labor camp.
The camp was locked down after hundreds of construction workers became sick with Covid-19.
Thousands of workers are trapped in filthy, over-crowded camps within the “Industrial Area” in Doha where the virus can spread rapidly, The Guardian reported.
The area is guarded by police, and workers who live there, many of whom had been working on Fifa World Cup 2022 infrastructure projects, cannot leave.
Qatari authorities on Tuesday announced the closure of several square kilometers of the Industrial Area.
Workers are fearful and there is an atmosphere of uncertainty.
Some workers have been told to go on unpaid leave until further notice, with only food and accommodation covered, sources at the camp told The Guardian.
“The situation is getting worse each day. Workers from camp 1 to camp 32 are in lockdown. My friends who live there are in extreme panic,” a Bangladeshi worker told The Guardian.
“We are not allowed to walk in groups or eat in a tea shop. But you can still buy food and take it home. I’m worried about my family back home. There won’t be anyone to take care of them if anything happens to me,” a Nepali worker said. He added that no one is allowed to leave the area.
On Mar. 11, authorities said 238 people under quarantine in a residential compound had tested positive for coronavirus. Subsequent announcements have linked most reported cases to migrant workers without mentioning nationalities.
Terrified workers are doing everything they can to prevent the spread of the disease. “We are doing everything to keep ourselves safe. The camp was a little dirty, so we cleaned everything, changed the bed sheets, and used spray to kill the germs,” a worker told The Guardian.
Although the country is on lockdown and has shut down almost all public spaces in the face of the outbreak, some construction workers who have not tested positive for Covid-19 say they are being forced to work after having just their temperatures checked before they begin.

Amnesty International said migrant workers trapped in camps such as those in Qatar are at particular risk of exposure to the virus.

“The Qatari government must ensure that human rights remain central to all attempts at prevention and containment of the COVID-19 virus, and also that all people have access to health care, including preventive care and treatment for everyone affected, without discrimination,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director of Global Issues.

Doha’s Industrial Area is made up of warehouses, factories and workers’ accommodation. It is home to hundreds of thousands of men who live in cramped and dirty conditions. Kitchens and toilets are communal, making it very easy for virus to be transmitted.
Expats make up the majority of the population in Qatar, and the government on Thursday said there were 460 cases in the country — the highest number among the six Gulf Arab states that have reported a total of more than 1,300 coronavirus cases.


Israeli jets pound ‘strategic weapons systems’ across Syria

Updated 27 sec ago
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Israeli jets pound ‘strategic weapons systems’ across Syria

  • UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it has documented more than 310 strikes by the IDF since Sunday
  • Israeli FM Gideon Sa’ar: That’s why we attack strategic weapons systems like, for example, remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall into the hands of extremists

LONDON: Israeli jets have reportedly carried out hundreds of airstrikes on “strategic weapons systems” across Syria since the fall of the Assad regime.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it has documented more than 310 strikes by the IDF since Sunday.

The strikes have targeted military facilities of the Syrian Army, including weapon warehouses, ammunition depots, airports, naval bases and research centers.

Israel claimed its actions aim to prevent weapons falling “into the hands of extremists” as Syria transitions into a post-Assad era.

The SOHR reported that the attacks spanned Aleppo, Damascus and Hama, with more than 60 taking place overnight between Monday and Tuesday alone.

Reports said that many of the facilities hit have not merely been damaged, but completely destroyed.

Rami Abdul Rahman, SOHR’s founder, described the impact of the strikes as destroying “all the capabilities of the Syrian army” and said that “Syrian lands are being violated.”

The IDF denied that its troops had strayed into Syrian territory and said that reports of tanks near Damascus are “false.”

A spokesperson said: “IDF troops are stationed within the buffer zone, as stated in the past.”

The IDF seized Syrian positions in the buffer zone as a “temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“If we can establish neighborly relations and peaceful relations with the new forces emerging in Syria, that’s our desire. But if we do not, we will do whatever it takes to defend the state of Israel and the border of Israel,” he said on Monday.

Asked about the IDF strikes on Monday night, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that Israel is only concerned with defending its citizens.

“That’s why we attack strategic weapons systems like, for example, remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall into the hands of extremists,” he added.

It is not known where or how many chemical weapons Syria has, but it is believed that former president Bashar Assad kept stockpiles.

Israel’s attacks come after Syrian rebel fighters captured the capital, Damascus, and toppled the Assad regime over the weekend. He and his father had been in power in the country since 1971.

Forces led by the Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham entered Damascus in the early hours of Sunday, before appearing on state television to declare that Syria was now “free.”


Syrians taste freedom at famous Damascus ice cream parlour

Updated 23 min 56 sec ago
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Syrians taste freedom at famous Damascus ice cream parlour

  • Idrees had last savoured it 15 years earlier, before the Syrian civil war made him a refugee
  • For more than 100 years and through many wars, Bakdash has served up an Arabic-style of ice cream that is infused with Sahlab

DAMASCUS: After racing from Lebanon to Syria to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime and making arrangements for his family to follow, 42-year-old Anas Idrees knew what was next on his list of priorities.
He ventured into the grand Hamidiyeh Souk in old Damascus until he arrived at the renowned Bakdash ice cream parlour, then ordered a large scoop of their signature mastic-infused Arabic gelato.
Idrees had last savoured it 15 years earlier, before the Syrian civil war made him a refugee.
“I swear to God, it tastes different now,” he said after eating a spoonful. “It was good before, but it’s changed because now we are happy inside.”
For more than 100 years and through many wars, Bakdash has served up an Arabic-style of ice cream that is infused with Sahlab, a flour made from orchid roots and pounded by hand with meter-long mallets until it takes on a soft, stretchy texture.
A generous heap costs just $1 per bowl, and is served coated in pistachios.
Bakdash is much-loved across Syria, but many Syrians have been unable to visit their capital city since former Syrian President Bashar Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests in 2011, igniting a 13-year civil war that divided the country.
In the wake of Assad’s ouster following a lightning rebel advance, tens of thousands of Syrians have converged on Damascus from across the country and outside its borders.
On Monday, hundreds turned up at Bakdash, many of them fighters fresh from the battlefield who slung guns around their backs to tuck into the cool treat that sometimes got caught in long, unkempt beards.
Ahmed Aslaan, a 22-year-old combatant wearing green fatigues, said he had not seen Damascus in more than a decade and enjoying the ice cream was a perk of his newfound freedom.
“Thank God we achieved our goal. Now we can go around all of Syria in our own car,” he said between bites. “We were all stuck in a tiny area before, now we have space.”
Co-owner Samir Bakdash said reopening the day after Assad fell was his way to show his joy at the end of a government that oppressed Syrians for decades and forced him to pay bribes just to keep his shop open.
He insisted the signature recipe had not changed since his great-grandfather came up with it in the 1890s.
But even regular customers said something felt new.
“It tastes different – it’s delicious and has gotten even better,” said Eman Ghazal, a business student in her 20s who has been coming to Bakdash since she was a child.
“It’s not just the ice cream, it’s life in general. It’s as if the walls are smiling and the sun has finally come out.”


Turkiye to reopen Damascus embassy ‘when conditions right’

Updated 8 min 30 sec ago
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Turkiye to reopen Damascus embassy ‘when conditions right’

  • The embassy closed on March 26, 2012 due to the deteriorating security situation

ANKARA: Turkiye’s top diplomat Hakan Fidan said Tuesday Ankara would reopen its embassy in Damascus when conditions allow following the ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad.
At a gathering of Turkish diplomats in Ankara, Fidan was asked whether Turkiye was planning to reopen its embassy in the Syrian capital, which closed a year into the civil war that began in 2011.
“We will look into it. We’ll wait for the conditions to be right,” he told delegates.
The embassy closed on March 26, 2012 due to the deteriorating security situation and amid calls by the Turkish government for Assad to step down.


Eight dead in Cairo building collapse: health ministry

Updated 14 min 45 sec ago
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Eight dead in Cairo building collapse: health ministry

  • Nine ambulances were dispatched to the scene

CAIRO: Eight people were killed and three more injured when a six-story residential building collapsed in central Cairo on Tuesday, Egypt’s health ministry said.
Nine ambulances were dispatched to the scene as rescuers continue to “lift rubble and search for any wounded or bodies,” health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said in a statement.


Netanyahu assails media as he testifies for first time in his corruption trial

Updated 10 December 2024
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Netanyahu assails media as he testifies for first time in his corruption trial

  • “I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth,” Netanyahu told the three-judge court
  • “But I am also a prime minister … I am leading the country through a seven-front war. And I think the two can be done in parallel”

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the witness stand for the first time on Tuesday in his long-running corruption trial, saying he was being hounded for his hawkish security policies.
Netanyahu, 75, is Israel’s first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime. He is testifying at the same time Israel is engaged in a war in Gaza and facing possible new threats posed by regional turmoil, including in Syria.
Last week judges ruled that Netanyahu, indicted in 2019, must testify three times a week, forcing the longtime Israeli leader to juggle between the courtroom and the war room at Israel’s Defense Ministry, minutes away from the courthouse.
The leader of the right-wing Likud party, Netanyahu assailed the Israeli media for what he called its leftist stance and accused journalists of having hounded him for years because his policies did not align with a push for a Palestinian state.
“I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth,” Netanyahu told the three-judge court. “But I am also a prime minister … I am leading the country through a seven-front war. And I think the two can be done in parallel.”
Prosecutors accuse Netanyahu of granting regulatory favors worth around 1.8 billion shekels (about $500 million) to Bezeq Telecom Israel (BEZQ.TA) in return for positive coverage of himself and his wife Sara on a news website controlled by the company’s former chairman.
He is also accused of negotiating a deal with the owner of Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper for better coverage in return for legislation to slow the growth of a rival paper.
Netanyahu denies the allegations against him and has pleaded not guilty. He stood rather than sat in the witness box throughout his morning testimony.
“Had I wanted good coverage all I would have had to have done would be to signal toward a two-state solution. ... Had I moved two steps to the left I would have been hailed,” he said.
In lengthy replies, he portrayed himself as a staunch defender of Israel’s security, withstanding pressures from international powers and a hostile domestic media.

TRIAL IN UNDERGROUND COURTROOM
Netanyahu smiled confidently when he entered the Tel Aviv District Court around 10 a.m. (0800 GMT). The trial was moved from Jerusalem for undisclosed security reasons and convened in an underground courtroom.
Before Netanyahu took the stand, his lawyer Amit Hadad laid out for the judges what the defense maintains are fundamental flaws in the investigation. Prosecutors, Hadad said, “weren’t investigating a crime, they were going after a person.”
A few dozen protesters gathered outside the courthouse, some of them supporters and others demanding he do more to negotiate the release of some 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has been waging war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group for more than a year, during which Netanyahu had been granted a delay for the start of his court appearances. But last Thursday, judges ruled that he must start testifying.
Charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Netanyahu will testify three times a week, the court said, despite the Gaza war and possible new threats posed by wider Middle East turmoil.
Netanyahu was indicted in three cases involving gifts from millionaire friends and for allegedly seeking regulatory favors for media tycoons in return for favorable coverage. He denies any wrongdoing.
In the run-up to his court date, Netanyahu revived familiar pre-war rhetoric against law enforcement, describing investigations against him as a witch hunt. He denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.

DIVISIONS AMONG THE ISRAELI PUBLIC
Before the war, Netanyahu’s legal troubles bitterly divided Israelis and shook Israeli politics through five rounds of elections. His government’s bid last year to curb the powers of the judiciary further polarized Israelis.
The shock Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing Gaza war swept Netanyahu’s trial off the public agenda as Israelis came together in grief and trauma. But as the war dragged on, political unity crumbled.
In recent weeks, while fighting abated on one front after Israel reached a ceasefire with Hamas’ Lebanese ally Hezbollah, members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, including his justice and police ministers, have clashed with the judiciary.
His domestic legal woes were compounded last month when the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant along with a Hamas leader, for alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict.