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Middle East takes more precautions as global fight against COVID-19 continues

Governments in the Middle East are taking more precautionary measures, including extending stay-at-home campaigns, in a bid to stop the continuoud rise of coronavirus infections. (AFP)
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Updated 30 March 2020
Arab News
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Middle East takes more precautions as global fight against COVID-19 continues

  • The UAE extends a sanitization program with a 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew
  • Oman plans to fly back 800 nationals from the US and Canada
Updated 30 March 2020
Arab News

DUBAI: Governments in the Middle East are taking more precautionary measures, including extending stay-at-home campaigns, in a bid to stop the continuoud rise of coronavirus infections.

The total number of cases globally has reached more than 650,000 as of Sunday morning, with the US reporting the highest number of local infections at approximately 124,000.

COVID-19 has killed nearly 31,000 people globally so far.

Sunday, March 29 (All times in GMT)

20:30 - Some Shiite pilgrims returning to Iraq from Syria have tested positive for coronavirus, raising concern that such pilgrim travel could be a source for a larger spread of the disease, a senior Iraqi official and health officials said on Sunday.

19:12 - Egypt's health ministry reported four new coronavirus deaths and 40 new confirmed cases.

17:25 - The number of deaths from the coronavirus in New York state increased by 237 in the past day, reaching a total of 965 since the outbreak began, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

The state also reported 7,195 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past day for a total of 59,513, Cuomo told a news conference. Another 1,175 people were hospitalized in the past day, increasing the total to more than 8,500 hospitalizations in the state, including more than 2,000 in intensive care, Cuomo said.

17:19 - The UAE Ministry of Health said it recorded 102 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 570.

The ministry also said a 47 year-old woman, who suffered from chronic illnesses, died from the virus following health complications.

17:15 - Turkey’s deaths from the coronavirus increased by 23 to 131 on Sunday, as the number of confirmed cases rose by 1,815 to 9,217, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

The minister added on Twitter that 9,982 tests had been conducted in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests carried out in Turkey to 65,446 since the outbreak began.

17:12 - The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy climbed by 756 to 10,779, the Civil Protection Agency said on Sunday, the second successive fall in the daily rate.

The total number of confirmed cases in Italy rose on Sunday to 97,689 from a previous 92,472, the lowest daily rise in new cases since Wednesday.

16:50 - Sudan amended its curfew period from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time.

16:24 - The number of coronavirus related deaths in Iran rises to 5,301, Iranian websites quoting medical sources said.

15:54 - Syria’s health ministry said a woman who died after being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment was found to have been infected by coronavirus in the first officially-reported death from the disease.

15:30 - The Saudi Health Ministry announced four more deaths from coronavirus and 96 new case in Saudi Arabia, increasing the total number of cases in the Kingdom to 1,299. READ FULL STORY.

14:30 - Spain announced on Sunday a record 838 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours, while Morocco announced cases in the country had hit 450.

13:30 - The number of people who have died after testing positive for coronavirus in the United Kingdom rose to 1,228, according to figures released on Sunday, an increase of 209. The previous increase saw the death toll rise by 260 people.

12:38 – Saudi Ministry of Health has reported 96 new coronavirus cases and four new deaths, increasing totals to 1299 cases and eight deaths.

10:16 – Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the coronavirus outbreak had entered a new phase as the total number of cases in the Russian capital exceeded 1,000 with many Muscovites going out despite a plea to stay home.

10:15 – Pope Francis backed a call by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a global ceasefire so the world can focus on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

10:05– Lebanon reported 26 new coronavirus cases, bringing total number to 438. 

09:37 – Spain’s coronavirus death toll rose by 838 cases overnight to 6,528 the health ministry said on Saturday, marking the highest daily rise in fatalities.
The total number of those infected rose to 78,797 from 72,248 on Saturday.

09:36 – Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has climbed to 2,640 and the number of infected people has reached 38,309, a health ministry official tweeted on Sunday.

09:21 – The Philippine health ministry on Sunday reported 343 new coronavirus cases, marking the country’s largest daily increase in infections, and three additional deaths.

09:19 – Malaysia reported 150 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking the total to 2,470, the highest in Southeast Asia.
The number of deaths from the virus outbreak rose by seven to 34, the health ministry said. 

09:16 – Kuwaiti Ministry of Health has registered 20 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 255.

09:15 – Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the number of coronavirus infections increased to 106.

07:28 – Morocco’s Health Ministry has confirmed 35 new coronavirus cases, bringing total to 437 and 26 deaths.

07:27 – Palestinian authorities have recorded six new coronavirus cases, increasing total to 104.

07:26 – Number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rises to 52,547 and 389 deaths.

06:50 – Oman has recorded 15 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of infected patients in the country to 167, the health ministry reported on Sunday. It also confirmed the recovery of 23 cases and urged everyone to follow its instructions with regards to social distancing.

03:14 – The US has reported the first prisoner to die of COVID-19.

01:41 – Mexico’s deputy health minister said measures asking citizens to stay at home could be extended.

The total number of infections in the country has reached 848 with 16 fatalities.

01:24 – The Center for Disease Control in the US has warned residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut against non-essential travel for 14 days.

01:16 – South Korea has reported 105 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 9,583.

Saturday, March 28 (All times in GMT)

20:10  – UAE helps Germany repatriate hundreds of tourists using Ras Al-Khaimah airport.

19:44 – Libya has recorded two new cases of coronavirus, increasing toll to three.
19:13 – Egypt has reported 40 new coronavirus cases and six deaths, bringing totals to 576 and 36, UAE state news agency WAM reported.
19:10 – Jordan has detected 11 new COVID-19 cases, increasing total number to 246.
17:05 – The Omani government is to fly about 800 of its citizens back to the Sultanate after calls for them to repatriated to their country amid concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, national daily Times of Oman reported on Saturday, citing the Washington embassy.

15:10 – UAE’s Ministry of Health has recorded 63 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 468.

14:48 – Rent payments in Dubai have been postponed for up to six months, national daily Gulf News reported, citing Dubai Free Zones.

Topics: Coronavirus coronavirus COVID-19 Coronavirus

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Israel’s old Lebanese allies grapple with new Hezbollah threat

Updated 16 April 2024
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Israel’s old Lebanese allies grapple with new Hezbollah threat

  • The South Lebanon Army was a mostly Christian militia recruited by Israel when it occupied south Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s
Updated 16 April 2024
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The looming threat of a war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is reviving painful memories for former Lebanese militiamen and their families who fled to Israel, their erstwhile ally, more than 20 years ago.
The South Lebanon Army was a mostly Christian militia recruited by Israel when it occupied south Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Zadalnikim, as the SLA’s former members are known in Israel from the group’s Hebrew acronym, sought shelter south of the border in the aftermath of Israel’s sudden withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, fearing reprisals from Hezbollah, whom they had fought for years in a brutal and uncompromising conflict.
Iran-backed Hezbollah — a Hamas ally with a large arsenal of rockets and missiles — has exchanged fire with Israeli forces almost daily since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 triggering war in Gaza.
In response, Israel has carried out strikes deeper and deeper into Lebanese territory, targeting several Hezbollah commanders.
A strip several kilometers (miles) wide on either side of the border has become a de facto war zone, emptied of its tens of thousands of civilian residents.
“They told us to prepare for two weeks in a hotel in Tiberias” in northern Israel, said Claude Ibrahim, one of Israel’s more prominent Lebanese collaborators.
“It’s already been six months. I hope it won’t last 24 years,” he told AFP, referring to his exile from Lebanon.


Ibrahim, a former right-hand man of the late SLA commander Antoine Lahad, was evacuated from the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, near the Lebanese border, in October when the entire city was emptied.
“It’s as if history repeated itself... generation after generation,” he said, referring to how the Zadalnikim had to flee their homeland after years spent moving from village to village during the Lebanese civil war of the 1970s and 1980s.
Of the 6,000 to 7,000 Lebanese who fled to Israel in May 2000, around 3,500 still live in Israel, according to the authorities. They are registered with the interior ministry as “Lebanese of Israel” and were granted citizenship in 2004.
Shortly after their arrival in Israel — where authorities only partly took responsibility for them — many moved on to Sweden, Germany or Canada. Others returned to Lebanon, where they were tried for collaboration with Israel.
All former SLA members in Israel have relatives in Lebanon, mostly in villages in the south, a few kilometers (miles) from the Israeli border.
Few agreed to be interviewed out of fear of reprisals against their families in Lebanon, whom they stay in touch with via third parties for the same reason.
Maryam Younnes, a 28-year-old communications student at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, was five when she arrived in Israel with her parents.


When her father, a former SLA officer, died a decade ago, they were able to bury him in their ancestral village of Debel, roughly 10 kilometers (six miles) as the crow flies from Ma’alot-Tarshiha, the northern Israeli town they moved to.
The rest of their family remained in Lebanon, in Debel and the capital Beirut.
With fears growing that the near-daily exchanges of fire across the border might escalate into a full-scale war, Younnes was worried about her relatives.
“I’m very concerned for my family, for my village (in Lebanon),” said Younnes, who sees herself as “half Lebanese, half Israeli.”
“I hope that there will be a way to protect them,” she said, if there is an all-out war with Hezbollah.
Ibrahim was equally worried, although he voiced hope that a new conflict with Israel would “finish off” his old enemy Hezbollah.
“The only solution is a big strike on Hezbollah so that it understands that there is no way forward but through peace,” he said.
Ibrahim said there was no reason Israel and Lebanon should not be at peace.
But Asher Kaufman, a history professor at Notre Dame University in Indiana who specializes in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, said attitudes in Israel had shifted significantly in the decades since the civil war and the cooperation between Lebanese Christian militias and the Israeli military.
The vision of an alliance between “Lebanese Christians and the Israelis, which was at the root of the 1982 invasion (of Lebanon by Israel) has completely collapsed.”
Israel has stopped “viewing Lebanon as the Switzerland of the Middle East,” a peaceful and prosperous country, and now sees it as “a violent quagmire it wants nothing to do with.”

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Israeli forces must halt ‘active participation’ in settler attacks on Palestinians: UN

Updated 16 April 2024
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Updated 16 April 2024
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Geneva: The UN voiced grave concern Tuesday over escalating violence in the West Bank, demanding that Israeli security forces “immediately end their active participation in and support for settler attacks” on Palestinians there.
“Israeli authorities must instead prevent further attacks, including by bringing those responsible to account,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the United Nations rights office, told reporters in Geneva.
Israel is still imposing “unlawful” restrictions on humanitarian relief for Gaza, the UN rights office said on Tuesday. “Israel continues to impose unlawful restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance, and to carry out widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, at a press briefing in Geneva.

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Heavy rains lash UAE and surrounding nations as the death toll in Oman flooding rises to 18

Updated 16 April 2024
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Heavy rains lash UAE and surrounding nations as the death toll in Oman flooding rises to 18

  • Lightning flashed across the sky, occasionally touching the tip of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building
Updated 16 April 2024
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DUBAI: Heavy rains lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, flooding out portions of major highways and leaving vehicles abandoned on roadways across Dubai. Meanwhile, the death toll in separate heavy flooding in neighboring Oman rose to 18 with others still missing as the sultanate prepared for the storm.
The rains began overnight, leaving massive ponds on streets as whipping winds disrupted flights at Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest for international travel and the home of the long-haul carrier Emirates.
Police and emergency personnel drove slowly through the flooded streets, their emergency lights flashing across the darkened morning. Lightning flashed across the sky, occasionally touching the tip of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
Schools across the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, largely shut ahead of the storm and government employees were largely working remotely if able. Many workers stayed home as well, though some ventured out, with the unfortunate stalling out their vehicles in deeper-than-expected water covering some roads.
Authorities sent tanker trucks out into the streets and highways to pump away the water.
Rain is unusual in the UAE, an arid, Arabian Peninsula nation, but occurs periodically during the cooler winter months. Many roads and other areas lack drainage given the lack of regular rainfall, causing flooding.
Initial estimates suggested over 30 millimeters (1 inch) of rain fell over the morning in Dubai, with as much as 128 mm (5 inches) of rain expected throughout the day.
Rain also fell in Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
In neighboring Oman, a sultanate that rests on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, at least 18 people had been killed in heavy rains in recent days, according to a statement Tuesday from the country's National Committee for Emergency Management. That includes some 10 schoolchildren swept away in a vehicle with an adult, which saw condolences come into the country from rulers across the region.

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Iran closed nuclear facilities in wake of Israel attack: IAEA chief

Updated 16 April 2024
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Iran closed nuclear facilities in wake of Israel attack: IAEA chief

  • Israel has carried out operations against nuclear sites in the region before
  • Israel accuses Iran of wanting to acquire an atomic bomb, something Tehran denies
Updated 16 April 2024
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United Nations: Iran temporarily closed its nuclear facilities over “security considerations” in the wake of its massive missile and drone attack on Israel over the weekend, the head of the UN’s atomic watchdog said Monday.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a UN Security Council meeting, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi was asked whether he was concerned about the possibility of an Israeli strike on an Iranian nuclear facility in retaliation for the attack.
“We are always concerned about this possibility. What I can tell you is that our inspectors in Iran were informed by the Iranian government that yesterday (Sunday), all the nuclear facilities that we are inspecting every day would remain closed on security considerations,” he said.
The facilities were to reopen on Monday, Grossi said, but inspectors would not return until the following day.
“I decided to not let the inspectors return until we see that the situation is completely calm,” he added, while calling for “extreme restraint.”
Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel overnight from Saturday into Sunday in retaliation for an air strike on a consular building in Damascus that killed seven of its Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.
Israel and its allies shot down the vast majority of the weapons, and the attack caused only minor damage, but concerns about a potential Israeli reprisal have nevertheless stoked fears of all-out regional war.
Israel has carried out operations against nuclear sites in the region before.
In 1981, it bombed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, despite opposition from Washington. And in 2018, it admitted to having launched a top-secret air raid against a reactor in Syria 11 years prior.
Israel is also accused by Tehran of having assassinated two Iranian nuclear physicists in 2010, and of having kidnapped another the previous year.
Also in 2010, a sophisticated cyberattack using the Stuxnet virus, attributed by Tehran to Israel and the United States, led to a series of breakdowns in Iranian centrifuges used for uranium enrichment.
Israel accuses Iran of wanting to acquire an atomic bomb, something Tehran denies.

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