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BAB AL-HAWA, Syria (AFP) — A first batch of Covid-19 vaccine doses was expected to arrive Wednesday in war-torn northwestern Syria, where millions of people live in dire humanitarian conditions, a UN official said. The 53,800 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were dispatched to the rebel-dominated region as part of the Covax facility, which ensures the world’s poorest economies get access to jabs for free. “Once the vaccines arrive, we are prepared to start vaccination […]
(Eagle News) — Twenty-eight Immigration officers are being investigated for their alleged involvement in the trafficking of 44 Filipino women to Syria. Immigration chief Jaime Morente added that he has also ordered the immediate creation of a fact-finding committee to find out how the victims were able to depart the Philippines. “I am at a loss for words from what I heard. Ako sa totoo lamang ay nahihiya. I am disappointed and frustrated about the […]
GOLAN HEIGHTS (AFP) — Archaeologists on Wednesday unveiled a fortified structure from the time of the King David on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that sheds light on the borders of a Biblical Israeli ally. The 3,000-year-old fort, found near the Jewish settlement of Hispin ahead of works to build a new neighbourhood, is believed to have belonged to the Geshurites, King David’s allies. Locally quarried basalt boulders form the metre-and-a-half (five-foot) thick walls of the […]
DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Dozens of fires that ravaged parts of Syria and Lebanon in recent days were brought under control on Sunday, authorities in the two countries said. In Syria, blazes fuelled by high temperatures broke out Friday in the provinces of Homs, Tartus and Latakia, where at least three people died, according to the health ministry. Several families had to flee residential areas near the fires, according to media reports. Syrian Agriculture Minister […]
DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Syrian firefighters and army helicopters Wednesday battled forest fires for a seventh consecutive day in government-held areas of the war-torn country, state media said. Damascus ally Iran sent in a firefighting plane Wednesday carrying 40 tonnes of water to help fight the fires in the hilly woodlands of Latakia and Hama provinces, in northwestern and central Syria respectively, state news agency SANA said. State media has published repeated images of billowing […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — The number of COVID-19 deaths among medical personnel in government-held parts of Syria has shot up in recent weeks amid a rise in infections, several sources told AFP. The capital Damascus has been especially hard hit, with doctors warning of a deteriorating situation in overcrowded hospitals struggling to cope with the influx of patients. The Syndicate of Doctors in Damascus on July 25 started to publish lists of doctors it said […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Lebanon, a small multi-confessional country which endured a devastating 15-year civil war, has often been caught in the crossfire of regional conflicts. The tragic explosions at Beirut port on Tuesday struck with the country mired in its worst economic crisis for decades, marked by the collapse of its currency and angry popular protests. Lebanon has had more than 5,000 cases of coronavirus, with 65 dead. Between Israel and Syria The civil […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia on Monday jailed two top leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) — an Al-Qaeda-linked extremist group behind the 2002 Bali bombings — on terror charges linked to sending militants to fight in Syria. JI leader Para Wijayanto and deputy Budi Trikaryanto were handed seven and six-and-a-half year sentences, respectively, at a Jakarta court hearing done by videoconference due to coronavirus concerns. “The defendants prepared cadres to go to Syria as well […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Thursday of a worsening crisis in northeast Syria, where water cuts, food shortages and depleted health services are proving as dangerous as coronavirus. Home to sprawling displacement camps hosting tens of thousands of people, including families of Islamic State group members, the Kurdish-held northeast has been hard hit by nine years of war. A COVID-19 outbreak, which the United Nations says has infected […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan underlined Tuesday the need for ceasefires in Syria and Libya during the coronavirus pandemic, the White House said. The two spoke by phone on efforts to “defeat the virus and bolster the global economy,” the White House said in a statement. And they “agreed it is more important now than ever for countries in conflict, particularly Syria and Libya, […]
DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — The Syrian government has announced the first case of the novel coronavirus in the war-torn country, days after starting measures to stem the spread of the pandemic. Health Minister Nizar Yaziji late Sunday said authorities had recorded “a first case of the coronavirus in Syria in a person coming from abroad,” without specifying the country. “The appropriate measures have been taken to deal with” the female patient aged around 20, state […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — A Turkish fighter jet downed a Syrian regime warplane over the northwestern Idlib province Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said, in the third such downing in three days. Turkey on Sunday confirmed it had launched a military operation against Russia-backed regime forces in the border region, where Ankara supports some rebel groups. Syrian state news agency SANA said one of its planes was “targeted” after two others […]
