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Coronavirus cases, deaths rise across the Middle East

Baghdad remains under strict government curfew to contain the novel coronavirus, but small groups of volunteers are making food packages for needy families. (File/AFP)
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Updated 06 April 2020
Arab News
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Coronavirus cases, deaths rise across the Middle East

  • Public bus services in Dubai will be free of charge for people permitted to leave their homes during the extended sterilization period
Updated 06 April 2020
Arab News

DUBAI: The Middle East has encountered more coronavirus cases and fatalities, with Iran recording its biggest jump in deaths.

Countries are implementing tighter rules on international and domestic travel to strengthen efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Sunday, April 5 (All times in GMT)

21:20 - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is admitted to hospital for precautionary tests for COVID-19.  

18:13 - France reported 357 new coronavirus hospital deaths, bringing the toll to 8,078, and the number of confirmed cases in hospitals rose to 70,478 from 68,605 on Saturday.

17:34 - The UAE recorded 294 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total number of cases so far to 1,798, with 19 cases cured.

17:21 - Turkey’s death toll from the new coronavirus rose by 73 to total 574, and new confirmed cases rose by 3,135 to bring the country’s total to 27,069, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
He added that 20,065 tests for the COVID-19 disease had been performed in Turkey in the last 24 hours.

17:16 - Morocco recorded 107 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths.

16:53 - Kuwait recorded 77 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 556.

16:20 - Algeria recorded 22 coronavirus deaths in one day, bringing the toll to 152, and 69 new infections, bringing the total to 1,320 cases.

16:14 - Italy recorded its lowest daily death toll from the novel coronavirus in over two weeks and saw the number of critical care patients decline for the second day.
The 525 official COVID-19 fatalities reported by the civil protection service were the lowest since 427 registered on March 19.

16:01 - Former Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril died of coronavirus in Cairo.

15:40 - Iraq recorded 81 new coronavirus cases and five new deaths, bringing the total number of cases so far to 961.

15:19 - The number of people killed by the coronavirus in Canada has jumped by just over 20% to 258 in a day, official data posted by the public health agency showed on Sunday.
By 11:05 eastern time (1505 GMT), the total number of those diagnosed with the coronavirus had risen by almost 12% to 14,426. The respective figures on Saturday were 214 deaths and 12,924 positive diagnoses.

15:16 - New York state reported 594 deaths from the coronavirus and 8,327 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, increasing the numbers to 4,159 dead and 122,000 cases since the outbreak began, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

15:16 - Europe needs debt mutualization and a common Marshall plan to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Sunday.

14:59 - Mahmud Jibril, the former head of the rebel government that overthrew Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, died of the coronavirus.
Jibril, 68, died in Cairo where he had been hospitalized for two weeks, said Khaled Al-Mrimi, secretary of the Alliance of National Forces party founded by Jibril in 2012.

14:41 - Nearly 20 million jobs at risk in Africa due to coronavirus pandemic and the African government could lose 20% to 30% of fiscal revenue, according to an African Union study.

14:34 - Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry says it has launched an electronic service to receive requests for the return of citizens from abroad and set travel times.

The ministry said registration of requests to return citizens from abroad begins on Sunday and will continue for 5 days, adding that all returning citizens will be subjected to isolation for 14 days.

"We developed an integrated plan for the return of citizens, guaranteeing their safety," it said in a statement on Twitter.

14:32 - Saudi Arabia's King Salman directs the foreign ministry to work on the procedures of citizens wishing to return from abroad amid the coronavirus outbreak. 

14:18 - Egypt expects economic growth to slow to 4.5% in the third quarter and to 1% in the last three months of the 2019/2020 fiscal year to June due to the effects of the coronavirus, Planning Minister Hala Al-Saeed said on Sunday.
The government had been targeting annual growth of 5.6%, but was now looking at 4.2%, she said.

13:33 - The United Kingdom’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by 621 to 4,934 at 1600 GMT on April 4, the health ministry said on Sunday.
As of 0800 GMT, a total of 195,524 people had been tested of which 47,806 tested positive, the health ministry said.

12:41 - Saudi Arabia has confirmed 206 new coronavirus cases and five deaths, bringing totals to 2,385 infections, 34 deaths and 488 recoveries.

12:40 - Ethiopia’s health minister has reported the first death of a COVID-19 patient. The total number of cases in the country is 43 with four recoveries.

12:27 - Albania has recorded 28 new coronavirus cases, bringing total to 361.

12:25 - Libya said total number of COVID-19 cases reached 9.

12:15 - The number of deaths caused by the new coronavirus in the Netherlands has increased by 115 to 1,766, health authorities said on Sunday.
Confirmed infections increased by 1,224 to 17,851, the Dutch Institute for Public Health said.

11:35 - Singapore’s health ministry on Sunday confirmed 120 more coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 1,309 infections and six deaths.

11:31 – The UAE cabinet held its second virtual meeting to discuss government efforts amid the coronavirus outbreak. It has ordered factories to mee the needs of the country’s health sector and issued other directives to support the community.

 

 

10:52 - South Sudan has confirmed its first case of COVID-19, its vice president said on Sunday.

10:45 - Lebanon started repatriating nationals stranded abroad in its first flight in weeks since it closed its international airport to stem the novel coronavirus.

09:54 - Iran’s total coronavirus death toll has reached 3,603, with cases raised to 58,226.

09:34 - Spain reported 6032 new coronavirus cases and 674 deaths, bringing totals to 130,759 infections and 12,418.

09:19 - Kuwait has announced 77 new coronavirus cases, bringing total to 556.

09:04 - Malaysia has reported 179 new coronavirus cases and four deaths, bringing total to 3,662.

08:47 - Lebanon has confirmed seven new coronavirus cases, increasing total to 527.

08:25 - Philippine Health Ministry has reported eight new coronavirus deaths and 152 new cases.

08:22 - Palestine has recorded nine new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 226.

08:21 - Morocco has announced 41 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 960.

08:13 - Jordan said it is to use drones and surveillance cameras to monitor compliance with a nationwide curfew imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

07:19 - More than 130 people were newly infected with the novel coronavirus in Tokyo, Japan’s NHK public broadcaster reported on Sunday, citing officials from the metropolitan government.

06:31 - Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has pardoned 5,654 prisoners and ordered measures to protect inmates from the coronavirus outbreak, the justice ministry said on Sunday.

06:22 - Oman has recorded 21 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 298.

06:04 - Greece has quarantined a second migrant facility this week after a 53-year-old man tested positive for coronavirus, the migration ministry said on Sunday. 

03:38 - Baghdad remains under strict government curfew to contain the novel coronavirus, but small groups of volunteers are making food packages for needy families.

“What we’re doing is a humanitarian duty toward society, and anyone who can afford it should do the same,” said businessman, Abu Hashim.

03:35 - Australian health officials said on Sunday they were cautiously optimistic about the slowing spread of coronavirus in the country but warned social distancing restrictions are to stay in place for months.

Confirmed cases rose by 181 during the 24-hour period to early Sunday, bringing the national total to 5,635, health ministry data showed. The death toll from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, rose to 34.

Saturday, April 4 (All times in GMT)

19:58 - Abu Dhabi will extend the closure of entertainment destinations including commercial centers, shopping malls and cinemas until further notice, state news agency WAM reported citing the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.

19:42 - Public bus services in Dubai will be free of charge for people permitted to leave their homes during the extended sterilization period, state news agency reported citing the Roads and Transport Authority.

Taxis in the emirate will also provide a 50 percent discount on fares. 

17:46 - Egypt’s Minister of Health Dr. Hala Zayed arrived in Italy on Saturday with a military delegation to deliver medical aid equipment, protective suits, detergents and sanitizers transported by two jets, local daily newspaper Egypt Today reported.

Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19) China Coronavirus

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Israel’s Somaliland gambit: what’s at risk for the region?

Updated 28 December 2025
Arab News
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Israel’s Somaliland gambit: what’s at risk for the region?

  • Somaliland’s strategic location near the Bab Al-Mandab raises fears an Israeli security presence could turn the Red Sea into a powder keg
  • Critics argue the decision revives Israel’s “periphery” strategy, encouraging fragmentation of Arab and Muslim states for strategic advantage
Updated 28 December 2025
Arab News

RIYADH: It perhaps comes as no surprise to seasoned regional observers that Israel has become the first and only UN member state to formally recognize the Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign nation.

On Dec. 26, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar signed a joint declaration of mutual recognition alongside Somaliland’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi.

For a region that has existed in a state of diplomatic limbo since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991, this development is, as Abdullahi described it, “a historic moment.” But beneath the surface lies a calculated and high-stakes geopolitical gamble.

While several nations, including the UK, Ethiopia, Turkiye, and the UAE, have maintained liaison offices in the capital of Hargeisa, none had been willing to cross the Rubicon of formal state recognition.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, assisted by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, signs the document formally recognizing Somalia's breakaway Somaliland region on Dec. 26, 2025. (AFP)

Israel’s decision to break this decades-long international consensus is a deliberate departure from the status quo.

By taking this step, Israel has positioned itself as the primary benefactor of a state that has long sought a seat at the international table. As Dya-Eddine Said Bamakhrama, the ambassador of Djibouti to Saudi Arabia, told Arab News, such a move is deeply disruptive.

“A unilateral declaration of separation is neither a purely legal nor an isolated political act. Rather, it carries profound structural consequences, foremost among them the deepening of internal divisions and rivalries among citizens of the same nation, the erosion of the social and political fabric of the state, and the opening of the door to protracted conflicts,” he said.

Critics argue that Israel has long lobbied for the further carving up of the region under various guises.

This recognition of Somaliland is seen by many in the Arab world as a continuation of a strategy aimed at weakening centralized Arab and Muslim states by encouraging peripheral secessionist movements.

Somaliland’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi. (AFP file photo)

In the Somali context, this path is perceived not as a humanitarian gesture, but as a method to undermine the national understandings reached within the framework of a federal Somalia.

According to Ambassador Bamakhrama, the international community has historically resisted such moves to prioritize regional stability over “separatist tendencies whose dangers and high costs history has repeatedly demonstrated.”

By ignoring this precedent, Israel is accused of using recognition as a tool to fragment regional cohesion.

In the past, Israel has often framed its support for non-state actors or separatist groups under the pretext of protecting vulnerable minorities — such as the Druze in the Levant or Maronites in Lebanon.

This “Periphery Doctrine” served a dual purpose: it created regional allies and supported Israel’s own claim of being a Jewish state by validating the idea of ethnic or religious self-determination.

However, in the case of Somaliland, the gloves are off completely. The argument here is not about protecting a religious minority, as Somaliland is a staunchly Muslim-majority territory. Instead, the rationale is nakedly geopolitical.

Israel appears to be seeking strategic depth in a region where it has historically been isolated. Netanyahu explicitly linked the move to “the spirit of the Abraham Accords,” signaling that the primary drivers are security, maritime control, and intelligence gathering rather than the internal demographics of the Horn of Africa.

The first major win for Israel in this maneuver is the expansion of its diplomatic orbit. It could be argued that the refusal of the federal government in Mogadishu to join the Abraham Accords was an artificial barrier.

The evidence for this claim, from the Israeli perspective, is that Somaliland — a territory with a population of nearly six million and its own functioning democratic institutions — was eager to join.

Abdullahi said Somaliland would join the Abraham Accords as a “step toward regional and global peace.” Yet, this peace comes with a clear quid pro quo — formal recognition.

Residents wave Somaliland flags as they gather in downtown Hargeisa on December 26, 2025, to celebrate Israel's announcement recognizing Somaliland's statehood. (AFP)

Israel can now argue that the “Somaliland model” proves that many other Arab and Muslim entities are willing to normalize relations if their specific political or territorial interests are met.

This challenges the unified stance of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which maintain that normalization must be tied to the resolution of the Palestinian conflict.

The second major gain for Israel is the potential for a military presence in the Horn of Africa. Somaliland’s strategic position on the Gulf of Aden, near the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, makes it a prime location for monitoring maritime traffic.

This is a ticking time bomb given that just across the narrow sea lies Yemen, where the Houthi movement — whose slogan includes “Death to Israel” — controls significant territory.

Israel may claim that a military or intelligence presence in Somaliland will boost regional security by countering Houthi threats to shipping. However, regional neighbors fear it will likely inflame tensions.

Ambassador Bamakhrama warned that an Israeli military presence would “effectively turn the region into a powder keg.”

Ambassador Dya-Eddine Said Bamakhrama, Djibouti's envoy to Saudi Arabia. (Supplied)

“Should Israel proceed with establishing a military base in a geopolitically sensitive location... such a move would be perceived in Tel Aviv as a strategic gain directed against the Arab states bordering the Red Sea — namely Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, and Djibouti,” he said.

The Red Sea is a “vital international maritime corridor,” and any shift in its geopolitical balance would have “repercussions extending far beyond the region,” he added.

The recognition is also a clear violation of international law and the principle of territorial integrity as enshrined in the UN Charter.

While proponents point to exceptions like South Sudan or Kosovo, those cases involved vastly different circumstances, including prolonged genocidal conflicts and extensive UN-led transitions.

In contrast, the African Union has been firm that Somaliland remains an integral part of Somalia.

The backlash has been swift and severe. The Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the OIC have all decried the move. Even US President Donald Trump, despite his role in the original Abraham Accords, has not endorsed Israel’s decision.

When asked whether Washington would follow suit, Trump replied with a blunt “no,” adding, “Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?”

This lack of support from Washington highlights the isolation of Israel’s position. The OIC and the foreign ministers of 21 countries have issued a joint statement warning of “serious repercussions” and rejecting any potential link between this recognition and reported plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza to the African region.

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland appears to be a calculated gamble to trade diplomatic norms for strategic advantage.

While Hargeisa celebrates a long-awaited milestone, the rest of the world sees a dangerous precedent that threatens to destabilize one of the world’s most volatile corridors.

As Ambassador Bamakhrama says, the establishment of such ties “would render (Israel) the first and only state to break with the international consensus” — a move that prioritizes “narrow strategic calculations” over the stability of the international system.
 

 

Topics: Editor’s Choice Somaliland Somalia Benjamin Netanyahu Gideon Sa’ar Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi Dya-Eddine Said Bamakhrama

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