Gulf / Middle East Tuesday, February 25, 2020 07

Palestinians, Israel exchange Kuwait, Oman, Iraq fire in Gaza Strip denies virus cover-up for second day and Bahrain report AFP coronavirus cases Jerusalem after claim of 50 deaths AFP and suspended flights to Israel and Islamic Jihad ex- The govt says the coronavirus death toll climbed to 12 but a lawmaker claims the govt is ‘lying’ Dubai / Najaf and from the country. changed fire in the GazaS trip Iraq on Monday con- for a second day on Monday, a AFP The new coronavirus hit firmed its first novel coro- week before the Jewish state’s Tehran four more Middle Eastern navirus infection in an Ira- March 2 election. states on Monday, with nian national studying in Islamic Jihad, a militant Iran’s government vowed on Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and the southern shrine city of group allied to Gaza’s Islamist Monday to be transparent af- Oman reporting new cases Najaf, health officials said. rulers Hamas, fired more than ter being accused of covering and the UAE calling on its Iraq had blocked travel 20 rockets and mortars to- up the deadliest coronavirus citizens not to travel to Iran to and from the Islamic re- wards Israel late morning, the outbreak outside China, dis- and Thailand. public days before announc- Israeli military said, with the missing a lawmaker’s claim Oman also halted flights ing a seminary student in majority intercepted by the the toll could be as high as 50. to and from Iran -- which is country’s air defence systems. The authorities in Iran battling the deadliest out- Oman halted flights to and Israeli fighter jets and heli- have come under mounting break outside China --with from Iran with immediate copters then targeted a num- public pressure since it took immediate effect. ber of Islamic Jihad bases in days for them to admit to “ac- The move came shortly effect, after two Omani the strip, including “a military cidentally” shooting down a after two Omani women who women who had returned compound in Khan Yunis used Ukrainian airliner last month, had returned from Iran were from Iran were diagnosed by the Islamic Jihad for train- killing 176 people. diagnosed with the disease. with the disease ing and weapons storage,” the The government an- The three cases in Ku- army said, referring to an area nounced Iran’s coronavirus wait and the one in Bahrain The three cases in Kuwait in southern Gaza. death toll had jumped by four were also in individuals who and the one in Bahrain There were no immedi- to 12 -- by far the highest out- had returned from Iran, were also in individuals ate reports of casualties on side China -- as several re- where the virus has claimed either side but one projectile gional countries reported their the lives of 12 people. who had returned from Iran from Gaza landed in an empty first cases on Monday, even Bahrain also shut three school playground. after imposing travel restric- schools after a man who had Najaf was the country’s first Embattled Prime Minister tions and strict quarantine transported children to the confirmed case. Benjamin Netanyahu, who is measures. A lady wearing protective mask shops at a pharmacy in the Iranian capital Tehran on Monday. (AFP) institutions tested positive Najaf’s provincial health fighting for re-election as well But Ahmad Amirabadi after returning from Iran on authority said the Iranian as preparing to face trial on Farahani, a lawmaker from February 21 via Dubai air- national had entered “be- corruption charges, warned the holy city of , south of port, the health ministry said. fore the ban was declared”. that Israel was prepared to re- Tehran, alleged Iran’s govern- Iran nuclear deal commission to meet in Vienna In Kuwait, a 53-year-old An AFP correspondent taliate with more force. ment was “lying” about the Brussels: The remaining parties to the Iran nuclear deal will meet in Vienna on Wednesday, the Kuwaiti, a 61-year-old Saudi said the man is being quar- “Hamas and Islamic Ji- death toll. EU’s diplomatic service announced, after Britain, France and Germany launched a dispute process national and a 21-year-old antined in a hospital in the had need to understand -- this “As of last night, about 50 over Iran’s successive pullbacks. stateless Arab who tested city. cannot continue,” he said in people have died” from the The office of EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell -- who is tasked with convening the commission positive had all returned The education directo- a statement after discussions COVID-19 outbreak in Qom under the dispute mechanism -- said the get-together would be chaired on his behalf by senior of- from Iran’s holy city of rate in Najaf said official with his security chiefs. alone, he was quoted as say- ficial Helga Schmid. The meeting comes as the European parties try to find a way to persuade Iran Mashhad, the Kuwaiti mid-year exams, which had “If they do not stop the fire ing by ILNA news agency after to come back into line with the deal after Tehran made a series of steps away in protest at the US health ministry said. already started, would be completely... we will carry out a closed session of parliament pulling out and reimposing sanctions. All seven bourses in the cancelled until further no- the extensive campaign we on the crisis. The 2015 agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief has been oil-rich Gulf states were tice to protect students. have prepared.” On Sunday, in The government rejected slowly crumbling since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018, describing the ac- down on Monday as fears of The governor of Sala- response to Israel’s killing of a the claim. “I ask our brother cord signed by his predecessor Barack Obama as a bad deal. (AFP) a pandemic hit crude prices. heddin, north of Baghdad, militant along the border, Is- who declared this figure of 50 The Saudi stock exchange said that non-Iraqis would lamic Jihad launched more than deaths to provide us with a list led the slide, shedding 2.95 not be allowed into the 20 rockets from Gaza into Israel. of their names,” said Deputy Suspicion on streets -But peo- pitals we see something dif- Shoaib, a 24-year-old percent. province ahead of a reli- Israel’s army said it then Health Minister . ple on Tehran’s streets were ferent. The number of people pharmacy employee, said the Last week, Kuwait gious pilgrimage to Shiite targeted the group both in “If the number of deaths in also suspicious. who died is much more,” said shop was running out of stocks banned entry of all ships shrines in the area planned Gaza and on the outskirts of Qom reaches half or a quarter “State TV gives us statis- Elahe Zarabi, 56, a housewife as it had gone from selling 500 from the Islamic republic for Tuesday. the Syrian capital Damascus. of this figure, I will resign.” - tics, but when we go to hos- carrying bags of bleach. face masks a day to 10,000. Russia airstrikes kill 5 civilians in Syria regime advance: Monitor FREE VEHICLE AFP RECALL Beirut

Five civilians died on Monday in Russian airstrikes backing Syrian regime forces as they chip away at the country’s last major rebel bas- tion, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Hu- man Rights said the deadly raids hit the area of Jabal Al-Zawiya in the south of the jihadist-domi- nated northwestern stronghold of Idlib. Smoke billows over the village of Qaminas, about 6 kilometres southeast of Idlib The Britain-based monitor says city, following reported Syrian air strikes, on Monday. (AFP) it determines who carried out an air strike according to flight pat- terns, as well as ammunition and UN warns of ‘bloodbath’ risk in northwest Syria aircraft involved. It said regime forces had rap- Geneva: Fighting in northwest Syria is coming “dangerously close” to idly gained ground in the southern encampments with around a million displaced people, risking an imminent part of Idlib in the past 24 hours. “bloodbath”, the UN said on Monday. They have seized “several towns Mark Cutts, the UN’s Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the and villages” south of the M4 high- Syria Crisis, also said the UN was trying to double aid deliveries across a way linking the coastal regime border crossing from Turkey from 50 to 100 trucks a day. stronghold of Latakia to govern- “The fighting is now coming dangerously close to an area where more ment-held second city Aleppo, than a million are living in tents and makeshift shelters,” Cutts told report- it said. ers in Geneva. Cutts warned there was a risk of “a real bloodbath”. (AFP) State news agency SANA said “units of the Syrian army contin- ued to progress in the south of M4 still under control of the jihad- Analysts expect a tough battle Idlib” province. ists and allied rebels. for Jisr Al-Shughur, held by the Observatory chief Rami Abdel That would require operations jihadist Turkestan Islamic Party Rahman said the regime’s ultimate against the towns of Ariha and Jisr whose fighters mainly hail from aim was to wrest back parts of the al-Shughur, both along the M4. China’s Uighur Muslim minority. Porsche 911 Number of covered vehicles (15 cars) Libyans propose ceasefire, Manufacturing Year 2020 slam international inaction Malfunction in the soware programming of the control unit in AFP cussed by the leadership on both “The entire world has been able to DEFECT the front center console Geneva sides, proposes that the United see the escalation in hostilities and at- Nations and a military commis- tacks against the capital Tripoli since Libya’s warring sides have hashed sion with members from both sides April 4, 2019,” Sarraj told the UN Hu- Contact the dealer for the free required repair out a draft ceasefire agreement, the monitor the safe return of displaced man Rights Council in Geneva. PROCESS UN said on Monday, even as Libyan civilians to their homes. But he lamented that despite leaders decried international inac- The UN said the sides would large numbers of people killed and tion to rein in hostilities still raging meet again next month to discuss displaced by Haftar’s actions, “until Porsche Centre Doha Al Boraq Automobiles in the war-ravaged country. implementation terms, but given today, we have not seen action by CONTACT The UN Support Mission in the state of hostility between the the international community.” Phone: 44599800 Libya (UNSMIL) announced that sides, prospects for a lasting truce In the latest outbreak of fight- Campaign number AKC1 two rounds of indirect negotiations remain unclear. ing, Haftar launched his offensive in Geneva between Libya’s Govern- The head of Libya’s UN-recog- on Tripoli last April but after rapid ment of National Accord (GNA) and nised GNA government, Fayez al- advances his forces stalled on the For any consumer protection issues please contact us on the hotline 16001 eastern military commander Khali- Sarraj, slammed Haftar before the outskirts of the capital. fa Haftar’s forces had resulted in a UN on Monday as a “war criminal”, The fighting has claimed more draft ceasefire deal. and decried international inaction than 1,000 lives and displaced some The text, which will now be dis- to halt the violence. 140,000, according to the UN.