BEIRUT: Lebanon announced a full lockdown for three weeks, including a night curfew, to stem a rise in COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals in a country already facing financial meltdown.
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan said the lockdown would start on Thursday and run until Feb. 1, with further details on Tuesday on which sectors would be exempt.
The lockdown will include a curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 am.
“It has become clear that the pandemic challenge has reached a stage that is seriously threatening Lebanese lives as hospitals are not capable of providing beds,” Hasan told reporters after a meeting of the ministerial committee on COVID-19.
Lebanon registered 2,870 new infections on Sunday, bringing its total to 189,278 cases and 1,486 deaths since Feb. 21.
The new lockdown comes amid concerns over soaring unemployment, inflation and poverty.
Lebanon is facing a devastating financial crisis that has crashed the currency, paralyzed banks, and frozen savers out of their deposits. Medical supplies have dwindled as dollars have grown scarce.
Intensive care units had previously reached critical capacity over the summer as the virus spread after a massive explosion at the docks wrecked swathes of Beirut, killed 200 people and destroyed several hospitals.
Adherence to social distancing and other preventive measures has been lax and there are now fears of a significant rise in cases after the Christmas and New Year holidays.
“It is a big problem. In the next ten days it will be very difficult and we are expecting death rates to increase as infections rise,” Mahmoud Hassoun, head of the critical care unit at Rafik Hariri hospital, told Reuters.
“We are nearly full now and we haven’t even seen the effect of the holiday period yet.”
Lebanon orders three-week lockdown to fight virus spread
https://arab.news/8pgz4
Lebanon orders three-week lockdown to fight virus spread
UAE president discusses Gaza with Donald Trump, reviews recent bilateral agreements
- Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed reiterates to his US counterpart the UAE’s commitment to a 2-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- The leaders also review the outcomes of the official visit to Washington last week by the UAE’s national security adviser
LONDON: The president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, spoke on Tuesday with his American counterpart, Donald Trump, about several Middle Eastern issues including the conflict in Gaza.
During their telephone conversation, Sheikh Mohammed reiterated the UAE’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the foundation for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the region.
He also addressed the ongoing efforts to secure a lasting ceasefire agreement in Gaza and maintain regional stability, and emphasized the need for vital humanitarian aid to reach the people in the Palestinian territory, the Emirates News Agency reported.
The leaders also reviewed the outcomes of an official visit to Washington last week by the UAE’s national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. Significant agreements between the two nations were reached during his trip in areas including artificial intelligence, advanced technology, infrastructure and energy.
Sheikh Mohammed and Trump reiterated their shared commitment to the enhancement of strategic cooperation for mutual benefit, the news agency added.
100,000 Palestinians perform prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque
- Ramadan set to conclude at the weekend
LONDON: Around 100,000 Palestinians performed the evening and Taraweeh prayers on the 25th day of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Tuesday, despite Israeli restrictions.
Ramadan, a month of fasting and worship for Muslims from sunrise to sunset, is set to conclude at the weekend. The last 10 days of the holy month are a time when some Muslims dedicate themselves to worship.
The Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, which is responsible for administering the site, said that most of the 100,000 worshippers were residents of Jerusalem and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
However, thousands of Palestinians from various cities and towns in the occupied West Bank were prevented from entering Jerusalem due to Israeli military checkpoints. Restrictive measures have been implemented by Israel since the start of Ramadan and age and security screenings have played a part in determining whether access to the city is allowed.
Upon the conclusion of Ramadan on Saturday or Sunday, majority-Muslim countries celebrate the holiday of Eid Al-Fitr over three days, marking the festivities of breaking the fast with family visits and trips.
UN officials call for ‘fast and broad’ easing of sanctions as Syria faces fragile transition
- ‘Some steps have been taken but more is needed if Syrians are to be given the chance to recover,’ the UN’s special envoy for Syria tells Security Council
- The country faces ‘immense challenges,’ and requires ‘serious international support’ in the form of investment in reconstruction, and funding for humanitarian aid
NEW YORK CITY: As Syria grapples with the aftermath of 14 years of civil war, UN leaders on Tuesday called for a “fast and broad” easing of the sanctions on the country, as they stressed the need for urgent international action to support a fragile political transition and address an escalating humanitarian crisis.
“We need to see fast and broad sanctions-easing, with relevant targeted and sectoral suspensions, including in energy, investments, finance, health and education,” said Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria.
“Some steps have been taken but more is needed if Syrians are to be given the chance to recover. It is essential that sanctioning states consider the important restrictions that still persist and that hamper response.”
He was speaking during a meeting of the Security Council in New York to discuss the “immense challenges” facing the country four months after the fall of the Assad regime.
It comes amid several significant developments on the political and security fronts in Syria. This month, sectarian violence between the caretaker authorities and their affiliates on one hand, and Alawite fighters on the other, has left hundreds of civilians dead in the western coastal governorates of Latakia and Tartous. This represents the most dangerous escalation of violence in the country since the fall of former president Bashar Assad and his government in December.
“The scale and sophistication of these attacks were striking,” Pedersen said.
Despite the ongoing violence there and elsewhere, including areas such as Aleppo, northeastern Syria and southern regions, Pedersen remained cautiously optimistic about recent peace agreements, including one between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the interim national authorities.
“The agreement offers hope for more effective humanitarian access and a path forward in northeast Syria,” he said.
A credible political transition is an important step in ensuring long-term stability, he added, and the UN has been pushing for a more inclusive and transparent process as the country prepares for the appointment of transitional authorities.
“Syrians await the announcement of a transitional government and a legislative council that reflects the country’s diversity,” Pedersen said. He called for further cooperation on constitutional and security-sector reforms, and efforts to ensure accountability for past atrocities.
He noted that “there was a sense of exclusion from the transition and the public sector, and there were pent-up grievances and anger towards persons associated with the former regime.”
He also emphasized the critical need for international investment in the reconstruction process.
“Syrians need an economic future and they need serious international support to enable it,” he said, as he urged the international community to consider the easing of sanctions and provide the vital assistance required to help rebuild shattered infrastructure.
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told council members that there was a “real sense of progress” in efforts to scale up humanitarian efforts in Syria. Cross-border aid deliveries from Turkiye have been significantly expanded, allowing relief teams to reach key areas such as Damascus and Homs, he said.
“We’re engaging with various member states to further ease sanctions and restrictions that affect our operations,” Fletcher added.
“Through this combination of efforts we, on your behalf, are getting support to millions of people across Syria each month.”
He noted the critical role of international partners in this effort, and acknowledged in particular Qatar’s contribution to the provision of electricity for Syrians, via Jordan, and infrastructure projects such as the reopening of the Atareb Water Station in Aleppo, which is now serving about 40,000 people.
However, he warned that adequate funding remains a major obstacle.
“The outlook is gloomy,” Fletcher said. “Our initial survey suggests that almost half of US-funded organizations have received full or partial stop orders, with a 40 per cent cut in humanitarian staff.
“This year, we are appealing for $2 billion to reach 8 million of the most vulnerable people through June. So far, we’ve received only about $155 million, just 13 percent of what we need.”
The funding shortfalls continue to impede life-saving operations, he added.
Both Pedersen and Fletcher warned that the stakes are high and the cost of hesitation in the face of Syria’s transition would be far greater than any investment needed to help foster a lasting peace.
“But there is no time to spare,” Fletcher said. “Let us be problem-solvers rather than problem-observers. We need to move with greater urgency, while we can. The price of failure will far outweigh the investment we are asking for.
“The people of Syria deserve the chance to see through the monumental task ahead and build a peaceful, prosperous and inclusive future. We must respond to their aspirations with energy and ambition.”
Turkiye protesters fill streets, defying crackdown
- Vast crowds have defied a protest ban to hit the streets daily since the Mar. 19
- Students chanted “government, resign!” and waved flags and banners with slogans including “Tayyip resign!“
ISTANBUL: Thousands of protesters returned to the streets of Istanbul on Tuesday after a week of the biggest protests to hit Türkiye in over a decade, defying a crackdown that has seen almost 1,500 arrested.
The demonstrations erupted after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a move opposition supporters see as a blatant violation of the rule of law.
The authorities have hit back with a crackdown that has alarmed rights groups, with seven journalists who covered the protests remanded in custody by an Istanbul court on Tuesday.
Among them was AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, drawing a sharp rebuke from the Paris-based news agency.
“His imprisonment is unacceptable. This is why I am asking you to intervene as quickly as possible to obtain the rapid release of our journalist,” the agency’s CEO and chairman Fabrice Fries said in a letter to the Turkish presidency.
The court charged Akgul, 35, and the others with “taking part in illegal rallies and marches,” though Fries said Akgul was “not part of the protest” but only covering it as a journalist.
Media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced the decision as “scandalous,” with its Türkiye representative Erol Onderoglu saying it “reflects a very serious situation in Turkiye.”
Vast crowds have defied a protest ban to hit the streets daily since the Mar. 19 arrest of Imamoglu, with the unrest spreading across Türkiye and prompting nightly clashes with security forces.
In the face of the biggest protests in Türkiye since the 2013 Gezi uprising over the redevelopment of an Istanbul park, Erdogan has remained defiant, denouncing the rallies as “street terror.”
“Those who spread terror in the streets and want to set fire to this country have nowhere to go. The path they have taken is a dead end,” Erdogan, who has now ruled the NATO member for a quarter of a century, said on Tuesday.
But as he spoke thousands of students marched through the Sisli district of Istanbul, whose mayor Resul Emrah Sahan was jailed in the same case as Imamoglu, heading for the district’s municipal headquarters.
They chanted “government, resign!” and waved flags and banners with slogans including “Tayyip resign!” as a large deployment of riot police watched, while people in apartments above bashed pots to show their approval.
Many had their faces covered with scarves or masks, and acknowledged they feared being identified by the police.
“We can’t express ourselves freely,” a student who gave her name as Nisa told AFP, saying she nonetheless joined the protest “to defend democracy.”
Separately, thousands also rallied for the seventh straight night in a protest organized by Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the Sarachane district, home of the Istanbul city hall that Imamoglu ran since 2019.
Girding for what could be a long standoff, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel called a mass rally for Saturday in Istanbul that he said would be the “largest open-air referendum in history” and would press for early elections.
“Are you ready for a big rally in a large square in Istanbul on Saturday to support Imamoglu, to object to his arrest, to demand transparent, open trials, to say we have had enough and we want early elections?” Ozel asked protesters, telling them the rally would be held in the vast Maltepe grounds on the Asian side of Istanbul.
In a possible change of tactics to focus efforts on Saturday’s rally, he said he would not call for another Sarachane protest on Wednesday.
With riot police using water cannon, pepper spray and rubber bullets against protesters, the Council of Europe denounced a “disproportionate” use of force while Human Rights Watch said it was a “dark time for democracy” in Türkiye.
The United Nations also voiced alarm at Türkiye’s use of mass detentions and its “unlawful blanket ban on protests,” urging the authorities to probe any unlawful use of force.
By Tuesday, police had detained 1,418 suspects for taking part in “illegal demonstrations,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X, warning there would be “no concessions” for those who “terrorize the streets.”
But Ozel told the Sarachane crowd: “We do not decrease in numbers with arrests — there will be even more of us.”
He added the extent of the crackdown was such that there was “no room left in Istanbul prisons.”
What the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire means for Palestinian civilians
- Israel resumed airstrikes on Gaza on March 18, ending the fragile ceasefire that had been in place since late January
- Arab League-led framework deemed the only meaningful way to save Palestinian lives, return hostages, and tame Hamas
LONDON: On March 18, Gaza’s deadliest day since October 2023, Israel shattered the fragile ceasefire that had been in place since late January with a renewed wave of strikes, killing at least 400 people and injuring more than 560 in mere hours, according to local health authorities.
The raids, which Israeli officials claim are intended to pressure the Palestinian militant group Hamas to release its remaining hostages held in Gaza, targeted northern, central, and southern areas, in the wake of a three-week aid embargo during the holy month of Ramadan.
In a statement issued on Telegram, Hamas accused Israel of attacking “defenseless civilians,” adding that fuel shortages, blocked roads, and the worsening humanitarian situation had resulted in many of the wounded succumbing to their injuries before reaching hospitals.
The militant group urged US, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators to hold Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “fully responsible” for “violating and overturning” the ceasefire.
In a post on X, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted his country was fighting against Hamas and not Gaza’s civilians.
“But when Hamas fights in civilian dress, from civilian homes, and from behind civilians, it puts civilians in danger and they pay a horrible price. That is why we are urging Gazans to evacuate combat zones,” he said.
Analysts and humanitarian agencies have condemned Israel’s renewed assault on Gaza. Amjad Iraqi, an Israel-Palestine expert at the International Crisis Group, told Arab News: “Palestinian civilians in Gaza are being collectively punished.”
“Israel has cut off virtually all aid, electricity, and water to 2.3 million people since early March, and is now relaunching devastating airstrikes and evacuation orders in hopes of either pressuring Hamas into further concessions or inducing Gazans’ forced expulsion,” he said.
“The weaponization of humanitarian aid and basic necessities knowingly threatens the civilian population’s very survival and its ability to recover after a year and a half of a brutal war.”
This assessment was echoed by Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency, who likewise described the aid ban as “collective punishment” against a population largely composed of “children, women and ordinary men.”
The renewed blockade, in place since March 4, has left residents facing severe food insecurity, with prices for essentials at least tripling, according to residents of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.
The closure of all border crossings for humanitarian and commercial supplies has prevented the UN World Food Programme from delivering any supplies into Gaza since early March.
“No food, no medicines, no water, no fuel,” Lazzarini wrote in a post on X on March 23. “Every day without food inches Gaza closer to an acute hunger crisis.”
In October, prior to the ceasefire, the UN warned that 1.84 million people across Gaza were experiencing crisis-level food insecurity, including nearly 133,000 facing catastrophic levels and 664,000 at emergency levels.
Aid workers, hospitals, homes, and schools serving as shelters have all suffered war damage. Airstrikes and artillery fire have also hit tents housing displaced people, a pattern the UN Human Rights Office, or OHCHR, says it has extensively documented since October 2023.
The Geneva-headquartered Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a statement that its teams were “horrified” by the resumption of air attacks.
On March 21, the MSF announced the death of one of its staff members, Alaa Abd-Elsalam Ali Okal, who was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike on his apartment building in Deir Al-Balah.
The organization said it was “shocked and saddened” by the loss, which brings the total number of MSF staff killed since October 2023 to 10.
The US-based MedGlobal also voiced concern for its staff and international volunteers in the Gaza Strip. It said on Sunday night that Israel had bombed Nasser Hospital — one of the last operational facilities where its teams were working — without warning or an evacuation order.
The hospital, located in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, was reportedly hit by an Israeli airstrike, killing at least five people and injuring several others. Among the dead was Hamas political bureau member Ismail Barhoum, who was receiving treatment at the facility.
The attacks “appear to be the prelude to a broader Israeli ground campaign in Gaza, and not just a shock-and-awe tactic to scare Hamas into accepting Israel’s unilateral revision of the agreed ceasefire terms,” Max Rodenbeck, Israel-Palestine project director at the International Crisis Group, told Arab News.
“The Netanyahu government wants the optics of victory more than it wants to retrieve hostages. The price for this is hundreds more Palestinian civilians killed.”
Indeed, Netanyahu has said the latest airstrikes are “only the beginning,” vowing to continue the offensive until Israel destroys Hamas and frees all hostages held by the militant group.
Prior to March 18, Netanyahu accused Hamas of repeatedly refusing to release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are thought to be alive — taken on Oct. 7, 2023, during the militant group’s unprecedented attack in southern Israel that triggered the war on Gaza.
However, Hamas has denied rejecting a proposal from US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, instead accusing Israel of breaking the truce by reneging on its commitment to enter the second phase of the ceasefire deal.
The militant group said the US “bears full responsibility for the massacres” in Gaza, after the White House confirmed Israel consulted the Donald Trump administration before resuming airstrikes.
Alongside Barhoum, the recent airstrikes have killed several senior Hamas officials, including Gaza’s top political leader and ministers. On Sunday, Hamas confirmed lawmaker Salah Al-Bardawil was killed in an Israeli strike on western Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Israel’s defense minister, Katz, warned on March 19 that Gaza would face “significantly worse” strikes if the remaining hostages were not released and Hamas was not expelled. Katz also suggested that Palestinians should consider “relocating to other parts of the world.”
“The alternative is utter destruction and devastation,” he added.
The Israeli military has already mounted “limited” ground operations in northern Gaza. It said on Saturday that troops had begun operating in the Beit Hanoun area “to target Hamas’ terror infrastructure sites in order to expand the security zone in northern Gaza.”
Katz announced plans to “seize additional areas in Gaza, evacuate the population, and expand security zones around Gaza to protect Israeli communities and soldiers.”
The escalating military campaign has raised concerns about the safety of the hostages.
Hamas has accused Israel of endangering the captives’ lives, a view echoed by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel. The forum expressed “shock and anger” at what it called “the deliberate disruption” of efforts to return loved ones from Hamas captivity.
This criticism aligns with broader skepticism about Israel’s strategy in Gaza.
Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israel analyst with the International Crisis Group, argued that Israel’s operation in Gaza “will not achieve either of its war goals: to defeat Hamas and to bring the hostages home.”
“Most Israelis oppose resuming the war, many at least supporting a continued ceasefire to save the hostages,” she told Arab News.
“The idea that military strikes will pressure Hamas to release hostages without an end to the war is unrealistic at best, and disingenuous at worst.”
Public frustration with Netanyahu’s decision to resume the war was evident on Saturday night when more than 100,000 Israelis staged protests in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other cities.
“All of this is happening as Netanyahu moves to fire his general security chief amid an investigation into advisers in his office, on top of his ongoing corruption trial and the looming deadline to pass the budget by the end of March,” Zonszein added.
The greatest toll, however, has fallen on Gazans, who have endured nearly 18 months of violence and displacement.
“Children and families in Gaza have barely caught their breath and are now being plunged back into a horrifically familiar world of harm that they cannot escape,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director, in a statement on March 18.
“This latest slaughter was on starved, besieged, defenseless families,” he added.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have killed at least 50,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 113,000 others in Gaza, according to the enclave’s health authority.
Some 1.9 million Gazans — 90 percent of the population — have been displaced multiple times. When the fragile ceasefire began in January, hundreds of thousands returned to the rubble of their homes and neighborhoods.
However, the resumption of hostilities has forced war-weary Gazans back into a cycle of displacement, fleeing one danger zone only to be thrust into another.
“There is no resilience,” an aid official in Gaza told The Guardian newspaper. “People … are in a very weak state, physically and psychologically.”
The OHCHR warned that Israel’s continued block of humanitarian aid, Gaza’s catastrophic shelter crisis, and limited access to life-saving services will likely worsen the impact of mass displacement.
Shocked by the resumption of strikes, Gazans have turned to social media to share their stories of renewed upheaval.
“Children’s bodies line morgue refrigerator floors; there’s no more room for the dead,” Anees Ghanima posted. “Has the world really gotten too small to hold us?”
Another Gazan, Khaled Safi, wrote: “The war on Gaza has returned while they are fasting, hungry, asleep, and haunted by death at every moment.”
With the situation deteriorating, a return to diplomatic solutions seems more urgent than ever.
“The parameters of the January ceasefire must be restored and linked to the Arab League’s ‘day after’ framework presented on March 4,” Iraqi of the International Crisis Group said.
“This framework is the only basis for a meaningful way to save Palestinian lives, return the hostages, tame Hamas under national and regional oversight, and restore a measure of stability.
“Diplomacy and leverage from Arab states — particularly vis-a-vis the US as the main actor to influence and press Israel — will be critical in determining whether this can be achieved.”
