BEIRUT: Lebanon’s parliament approved a draft law allowing imports of coronavirus vaccines as the tiny nation hit a new record in case numbers Friday and more hospitals reported they were at full capacity.
The new daily toll of 6,154 cases and 44 deaths came on the second day of a nationwide 11-day curfew that the government and doctors hope will reign in the dramatic surge of the virus.
Lebanon, a country of about 6 million people, has witnessed a sharp increase of cases in recent weeks, after some 80,000 expatriates flew in to celebrate Christmas and New Year.
During the holiday season, restrictions were eased to encourage spending by expatriates amid a suffocating economic and financial crisis, the worst in Lebanon’s modern history.
On Friday, the American University Medical Center, one of Lebanon’s largest and most prestigious hospitals, said in a statement that its health care workers were overwhelmed. The hospital’s ICUs and regular coronavirus units have reached full capacity and so did the emergency room, it said.
“We are unable to find beds for even the most critical patients,” the hospital said, urging people in Lebanon to help by taking extreme precautionary measures to “overcome the catastrophe we are facing.”
Mazen El-Sayed, an associated professor in the department of emergency medicine, described the situation as “tragic,” anticipating that the next two weeks would be even more dire.
In southern Lebanon, the Ragheb Harb Hospital also said that its COVID-19 units were now. “We are working beyond our capacity. The situation is very dangerous,” the hospital said in a statement.
The curfew, which began Thursday, is the strictest measure Lebanon has taken since the start of the pandemic. But many have expressed concern the measures have come too late — many hospitals have already reached maximum capacity for coronavirus patients, some have run out of beds, oxygen tanks and ventilators while others have halted elective surgeries.
Lebanon was able to contain the virus in its early stages but the numbers started climbing after measures were eased in early July and following the massive deadly blast at Beirut’s port in August.
Following bureaucratic delays, the country now is putting hopes on vaccines that are expected to start arriving next month.
Parliament’s approval opens the way for imports of vaccines from around the world, including the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Health Minister Hamad Hassan, who is hospitalized with the coronavirus, had said that once the draft law is approved, the first deliveries of vaccines should start arriving in February.
Lebanon has reserved 2.7 million doses of vaccines from multiple international companies and 2.1 million to be provided by Pfizer, Diab’s office says.
Lebanon has registered nearly 243,000 coronavirus cases and some 1,825 confirmed deaths.
Lebanon approves law to import vaccines as coronavirus hits new record
https://arab.news/b3d79
Lebanon approves law to import vaccines as coronavirus hits new record
Turkiye calls on EU to lift Syria sanctions ahead of international conference
- The EU will host the ninth international conference in support of Syria on Monday
- For the first time, representatives of Syria’s new interim government have been invited to attend
ISTANBUL: Turkiye on Sunday called on the European Union to unconditionally lift sanctions on the Syrian Arab Republic, ahead of an international aid conference in Brussels to which the war-torn country’s new authorities have been invited.
Ankara, allied with Syria’s new rulers who ousted president Bashar Assad and took power in December, views such a step as necessary for a “peaceful transition” in the country, Turkiye’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The European Union on Monday will host the ninth international conference in support of Syria. For the first time, representatives of Syria’s government — the new interim authorities — have been invited to attend.
The event aims to raise international support for Syria’s transition and recovery after more than 13 years of civil war.
The European bloc on February 24 already announced an easing of sanctions on Syria’s energy, transport and banking sectors to relieve some of the challenges facing Ahmed Al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president.
But Europe and other powers remain wary over what direction Sharaa’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) — which spearheaded the lightning offensive that toppled Assad on December 8 — may take Syria.
While there are hopes Sharaa’s authorities can stabilize the country and usher in an inclusive future, recent deadly violence targeting the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs has kept doubts floating.
EU foreign ministers have warned that the sanctions they eased could be reimposed if Syria’s new leaders break promises to respect the rights of minorities and move toward democracy.
“Syria’s economic security is essential for the country’s stability and security,” Turkiye’s ministry said, adding that “economic opportunities and jobs need to be created.”
“The sanctions must be lifted unconditionally and for an indeterminate period,” it said.
Turkiye, which hosts nearly three million Syrian refugees, also urged reconstruction of Syria “to encourage returns.”
Turkish deputy foreign minister Nuh Yilmaz will attend the Brussels conference.
Iraq says seized one ton of captagon from Syria via Turkiye
BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces seized more than a ton of captagon tablets smuggled from Syria via Turkiye, the interior ministry said on Sunday.
Ministry spokesman Moqdad Miri said the Narcotics Directorate “seized a truck from Syria, bound for Iraq, via Turkiye, transporting 1.1 tons” of the powerful synthetic stimulant.
Lebanon says Israeli strike kills one in south
- The strike targeted a four-wheel-drive vehicle near Yater in Bint Jbeil district at around 2:00 am
Beirut: An Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon on Sunday killed one person, the health ministry said, the latest attack more than three months into a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The strike, which also wounded one person, targeted a four-wheel-drive vehicle near Yater in Bint Jbeil district at around 2:00 am, the official National News Agency reported.
“The Israeli enemy’s air strike on a vehicle in the town of Yater resulted in the martyrdom of a citizen and the injury of another,” the ministry said in a statement carried by NNA.
It comes a day after the ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the southern border town of Burj Al-Muluk.
Following that raid, the Israeli military said it “struck a Hezbollah terrorist who took part in terrorist activity in the area of Kfarkela in southern Lebanon.”
And on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it carried out a strike in southern Lebanon that killed a senior Hezbollah militant.
That came as Lebanon received four detainees who had been taken to Israel during fighting with Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group, with a fifth detainee, a soldier, released on Thursday after he was taken earlier this month.
A November 27 truce largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war in which Israel sent in ground troops.
Israel has continued to carry out periodic strikes on Lebanese territory since the agreement took effect.
Israel had been due to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems “strategic.”
The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Trump launches large-scale strikes on Yemen’s Houthis, at least 24 killed
- US president warns Iran, Houthis’ main backer, against supporting armed group
- Development takes place as Washington ramps up sanctions pressure on Tehran
WASHINGTON/ADEN: US President Donald Trump launched large-scale military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group’s attacks against Red Sea shipping, killing at least 24 people at the start of a campaign expected to last many days.
Trump also warned Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support for the group. He said if Iran threatened the United States, “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
The unfolding strikes — which one US official told Reuters might continue for weeks — represent the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January. It came as the United States ramps up sanctions pressure on Tehran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.
“To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
At least 13 civilians were killed and nine injured in US strikes on Yemen’s capital Sanaa, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.
At least 11 others, including four children and one woman, were killed and 14 were injured in a US strike on the northern province of Saada, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported.
The Houthis’ political bureau described the attacks as a “war crime.”
“Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation,” it said in a statement.
Residents in Sanaa said the strikes hit a building in a Houthi stronghold.
“The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children,” one of the residents, who gave his name as Abdullah Yahia, told Reuters.
Another strike on a power station in the town of Dahyan in Saada led to a power cut, Al-Masirah TV reported early on Sunday. Dahyan is where Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, the enigmatic leader of the Houthis, often meets his visitors.
The Houthis, an armed movement that took control of most of Yemen over the past decade, have launched scores of attacks on ships off its coast since November 2023, disrupting global commerce and setting the US military on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones that have burned through stocks of US air defenses.
A Pentagon spokesperson said the Houthis have attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023. The Houthis say the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war in Gaza with Hamas militants.
Iran’s other allies, Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, have been severely weakened by Israel since the start of the Gaza conflict. Syria’s Bashar Assad, who was closely aligned with Tehran, was overthrown by rebels in December.
But throughout, Yemen’s Houthis have remained resilient and often on the offensive, sinking two vessels, seizing another and killing at least four seafarers in an offensive that disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to reroute to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.
The US administration of then-President Joe Biden had sought to degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack vessels off its coast but limited the US actions.
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Trump has authorized a more aggressive approach.
Strikes across Yemen
The strikes on Saturday were carried out in part by fighter aircraft from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, which is in the Red Sea, officials said.
The US military’s Central Command, which oversees troops in the Middle East, described Saturday’s strikes as the start of a large-scale operation across Yemen.
“Houthi attacks on American ships & aircraft (and our troops!) will not be tolerated; and Iran, their benefactor, is on notice,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X. “Freedom of Navigation will be restored.”
Trump held out the prospect of far more devastating military action against Yemen.
“The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” Trump wrote.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the US government had “no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy.”
“End support for Israeli genocide and terrorism. Stop killing of Yemeni people,” he said in an X post on early Sunday.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Tuesday, the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, the Bab Al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, ending a period of relative calm starting in January with the Gaza ceasefire.
The US attacks came just days after a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from Trump was delivered, seeking talks over Iran’s nuclear program.
Khamenei on Wednesday rejected holding negotiations with the United States.
Still, Tehran is increasingly concerned that mounting public anger over economic hardships could erupt into mass protests, four Iranian officials told Reuters.
Last year, Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, in retaliation for Iranian missile and drone attacks, reduced Tehran’s conventional military capabilities, according to US officials.
Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is dramatically accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level, the UN nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — has warned.
Western states say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level under any civilian program and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.
In an apparent sign of US efforts to improve ties with Russia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to inform him about the US strikes in Yemen, the State Department said.
Russia has relied on Iranian-provided weaponry in its war in Ukraine, including missiles and drones, US and Ukrainian officials say.
White House withdraws nomination for hostage envoy Adam Boehle
- A White House official said Boehler withdrew his nomination to avoid divesting from his investment company
WASHINGTON: The administration of President Donald Trump has withdrawn the nomination of Adam Boehler to serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, the White House said on Saturday.
Boehler, who has been working to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, will continue hostage-related work as a so-called “special government employee,” a position that would not need Senate confirmation.
“Adam Boehler will continue to serve President Trump as a special government employee focused on hostage negotiations,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“Adam played a critical role in negotiating Marc Fogel’s return from Russia. He will continue this important work to bring wrongfully detained individuals worldwide home.”
A White House official said Boehler withdrew his nomination to avoid divesting from his investment company.
The move was unrelated to the controversy sparked by his discussions with Hamas.
“He still has the utmost confidence of President Trump,” said the official.
“This gives me the best ability to help Americans held abroad as well as work across agencies to achieve President Trump’s objectives,” Boehler said in a brief statement.
Boehler recently held direct meetings with Hamas on the release of hostages in Gaza.
The discussions broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups that the US brands as terrorist organizations.
The talks angered some Senate Republicans and some Israeli leaders.
According to Axios, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer expressed his displeasure to Boehler in a tense phone call last week.
Hamas carried out a cross-border raid into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel responded with an offensive into the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
Boehler was given permission from the Trump administration to engage directly with Hamas, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this week, calling the talks a “one-off situation” that had not borne fruit.
Boehler has been credited with helping secure the release of American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, who Russia freed in February after three and a half years in prison.
