Lebanon lockdown extension recommended as cabbies, soldiers clash at airport

Members of the Lebanese security forces check citizens' documents at a COVID-19 checkpoint near the coastal town of Safra on the Tripoli-Beirut main highway on January 19, 2021, as Lebanon enters a second week under lockdown aimed at preventing the country's creaking healthcare system from collapsing. (AFP)
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Updated 20 January 2021
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Lebanon lockdown extension recommended as cabbies, soldiers clash at airport

  • On Wednesday, taxi drivers clashed with soldiers in front of the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Health Ministry’s Scientific Committee on Combating the Coronavirus Pandemic has recommended extending lockdown by at least two weeks.

In the past week, the country registered a new record for daily coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases. More than 78,812 cases were recorded in the past 20 days, which has led doctors to conclude that Lebanon has lost control over the virus.

Sixty-one new deaths were announced on Tuesday, a record high in Lebanon. The Higher Defense Council is expected to hold an emergency session on Thursday to assess the situation.

On Wednesday, taxi drivers clashed with soldiers in front of the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut. Taxi drivers had previously blocked the road leading to the airport with their vehicles, protesting the effect of lockdown measures on their work. 

The army intervened to reopen the road. Some protesters were injured after being beaten with rifle butts.

The airport’s security command said: “Due to the lockdown and curfew in place, taxi drivers are banned from operating without permission. The current measures to transport travelers at the airport are temporary and everything will go back to normal once the lockdown is over. However, the command will not allow the airport’s security to be jeopardized for any reason.”

Bshara Al-Asmar, head of the General Labor Union, said: “As health and official authorities are insisting on extending the lockdown period, the Lebanese state, bodies and ministries must coordinate with the union, economic commissions and civil society to find a mechanism to support employees and daily workers of the private sector who are not getting paid during the lockdown, as well as daily and hourly-paid workers in the public sector, low-income and self-employed persons who depend on their daily work to earn their living.”

Al-Asmar urged officials to “expedite the government’s formation to achieve a minimum of political stability, which would pave the way for the economic reforms the country urgently needs, as poverty and unemployment have reached every Lebanese house.”

Dr. Firas Al-Abyad, director of the Hariri Governmental University Hospital, stressed “the need to adopt and abide by extremely strict containment measures and implement effective and fast measures to track down the infected persons and those who have had contact with them, instead of only focusing on the numbers of available beds in hospitals.”

Pending the decision of any lockdown extension, Hani Bohsali, head of the Syndicate of Importers of Foodstuffs in Lebanon, has called on “relevant authorities not to improvise or rush into any decisions, especially those related to food security of citizens.”

Bohsali added: “Seven days after the beginning of the lockdown, the demand of food items, especially vegetables, bread and dairy products, has dramatically decreased, which is not the result of citizens’ decreasing need as much as their inability to buy the food items they need, after they have disappeared from the shelves.”

Bohsali also shed light on the incapacity of “delivery services, especially in supermarkets across Lebanon, to meet the needs of Lebanese.”

He warned that “extending the lockdown and keeping supermarkets closed will increase citizen’s needs of foods and goods, which will eventually lead to congestion and overcrowding in supermarkets.

“This will be a similar situation to before the lockdown, risking citizens’ health again.”


Jordanian food exporters set sights on UK and beyond at exhibition in London

Updated 5 sec ago
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Jordanian food exporters set sights on UK and beyond at exhibition in London

  • Companies hope 3-day International Food and Drink Event will be a key platform for promoting wide range of products to international buyers and distributors
  • ‘UK’s autonomy in trade policy, coupled with its substantial Arab and Muslim consumer base, presents a unique opportunity,’ says Jordan Exporters Association boss

LONDON: Food manufacturers from Jordan are showcasing their products at the International Food and Drink Event in London this week, as they make a concerted push to enter the potentially lucrative UK market.

The Jordanian delegation views the three-day exhibition, which began on Monday and concludes on Wednesday, as a key platform on which to promote a diverse range of products, including confectionery, baked goods, spices, nuts and specialty items, to a global audience of buyers and distributors, the Jordan News Agency reported.

Ahmad Khudari, president of the Jordan Exporters Association, which is spearheading the country’s participation at the exhibition, said the event has an important role to play in fostering new trade relationships.

“Our objective is to establish direct channels with international buyers and distributors, highlighting the competitive edge and superior quality of Jordanian food products,” he said.

The aim is to expand Jordan’s presence in the growing halal food sector and broader international markets, he said, adding: “Expanding our market reach is essential for stimulating domestic production, fostering industrial expansion, attracting foreign investment, and strengthening our trade balance.”

Halim Abu Rahma, the association’s general manager, said there has been strong interest from international buyers during the event in London.

“The exhibition has drawn significant attention from key buyers, offering Jordanian companies a valuable opportunity to highlight their product innovation and quality,” he said.

“The UK’s autonomy in trade policy, coupled with its substantial Arab and Muslim consumer base, presents a unique opportunity for Jordanian food manufacturers to establish a strong foothold,” he added as he stressed the strategic significance of the British market, particularly in the post-Brexit trade landscape, and urged businesses to leverage the terms of the free trade deal between Jordan and the UK.

The agreement, which came into effect in 2021, aims to bolster bilateral trade by granting Jordanian products tariff-free entry into the UK, mirroring a similar trade deal between Jordan and the EU.

In 2023, trade between Jordan and the UK was worth about 303 million dinars ($427 million), with Jordanian exports accounting for 62 million dinars of the total.

The International Food and Drink Event 2025 features 1,500 exhibitors from around the world, and was expected to attract about 30,000 buyers and distributors from more than 105 countries.


Nearly 13,000 Syrians fled to Lebanon: report

Updated 29 min 57 sec ago
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Nearly 13,000 Syrians fled to Lebanon: report

  • Violence erupted on Syria’s coast — the heartland of former president Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority — with attacks on security forces that were blamed on gunmen loyal to the toppled president

BEIRUT: Nearly 13,000 Syrians fled across the borders to Lebanon since sectarian massacres on the Syrian coast earlier this month, Lebanese authorities said on Tuesday.

A report from Lebanon’s Disaster Risk Management Unit said 12,798 Syrians had arrived and settled in 23 different villages and towns in Lebanon’s northern Akkar region, adding that most were living in family homes or makeshift accommodation centers.

Violence erupted on Syria’s coast — the heartland of former president Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority — with attacks on security forces that were blamed on gunmen loyal to the toppled president.

According to the latest toll from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, Syrian security forces and allied groups subsequently killed at least 1,557 civilians, the vast majority Alawites.

Thousands of coastal residents took refuge in Russia’s Hmeimim air base, calling for protection, while others fled south to neighboring Lebanon.


Israel is ramping up annexation of West Bank, UN rights chief says

Updated 34 min 39 sec ago
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Israel is ramping up annexation of West Bank, UN rights chief says

  • ‘The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime’

GENEVA: Israel has expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said in a report on Tuesday.

The report, based on research between Nov. 1, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2024, said there had been a “significant” expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and cited reports by Israeli NGOs of tens of thousands of planned housing units in new or existing settlements.

The findings will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council this month and come amid growing fears of annexation among Palestinians, as US policy shifts under President Donald Trump and new settler outposts are put down in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.

“The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime,” UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action.

“Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers,” he said.

Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land Israel captured in 1967. Most countries consider Israel’s settlements on territory seized in war to be illegal. 

Israel’s military says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.

Plans for the further provision of Israeli government services in these settlements “further institutionalize(s) long-standing patterns of systematic discrimination, segregation, oppression, domination, violence and other inhumane acts against the Palestinian people,” the report said.


War monitor says Israel strikes central Syria military site

Updated 48 min 56 sec ago
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War monitor says Israel strikes central Syria military site

  • According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “Israeli air strikes targeted a missile battalion” near Homs city
  • Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites since December

BEIRUT: A Syrian Arab Republic war monitor said Israeli jets struck a military site in central Syria on Tuesday, the latest such attack in recent days.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “Israeli air strikes targeted a missile battalion” near Homs city, reporting explosions in the area with no immediate word of casualties.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria since the December overthrow of president Bashar Assad, saying it was acting to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities whom it considers jihadists.
On Monday Israel struck the area of the southern city of Daraa, killing three civilians according to the authorities.
Last week, an Israeli air strike on Damascus hit a “command center” of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, the military said. The Observatory reported one fatality.
In addition to the air strikes, since Assad’s fall, Israel has also deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the strategic Golan Heights and called for the complete demilitarization of southern Syria, near its territory.


Presidents of Congo and Rwanda meet in Qatar to discuss insurgency in eastern Congo

Updated 18 March 2025
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Presidents of Congo and Rwanda meet in Qatar to discuss insurgency in eastern Congo

  • Congo and Rwanda reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire on Tuesday
  • Peace talks between the two countries were unexpectedly canceled in December

DAKAR: The presidents of Congo and neighboring Rwanda met Tuesday in Qatar for their first direct talks since Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized two major cities in mineral-rich eastern Congo earlier this year, the three governments said.
The meeting between Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame to discuss the insurgency was mediated by Qatar, the three governments said in a joint statement.
The summit came as a previous attempt to bring Congo’s government and M23 leaders together for ceasefire negotiations on Tuesday failed. The rebels pulled out Monday after the European Union announced sanctions on rebel leaders.
Congo and Rwanda reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire during the meeting in Qatar on Tuesday.
Peace talks between Congo and Rwanda were unexpectedly canceled in December after Rwanda made the signing of a peace agreement conditional on a direct dialogue between Congo and the M23 rebels, which Congo refused at the time.
The conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January when the Rwanda-backed rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by Bukavu in February.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.
The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the east.
The UN Human Rights Council last month launched a commission to investigate atrocities, including allegations of rape and killing akin to “summary executions” by both sides.