Morocco: Self-isolation, Social Distancing Are a Luxury That Poor Families Can't Afford

In this in Wednesday, March 25, 2020 photo, volunteers disinfect an overcrowded housing complex to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Sale, near Rabat, Morocco. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
In this in Wednesday, March 25, 2020 photo, volunteers disinfect an overcrowded housing complex to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Sale, near Rabat, Morocco. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
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Morocco: Self-isolation, Social Distancing Are a Luxury That Poor Families Can't Afford

In this in Wednesday, March 25, 2020 photo, volunteers disinfect an overcrowded housing complex to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Sale, near Rabat, Morocco. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
In this in Wednesday, March 25, 2020 photo, volunteers disinfect an overcrowded housing complex to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Sale, near Rabat, Morocco. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

More than 900 people live in crowded rooms without running water or an income to support them in a housing complex in the Moroccan city of Sale. The country entered total lockdown in mid-March, however, self-isolation and social distancing are a luxury that families in this complex cannot afford.

Some families have lived in their room for 40 years, steadily filling it with children and grandchildren, with some rooms housing up to 10 people. Almost all are marginalized, and since the outbreak of COVID-19, those who had jobs - such as working in gas stations or selling small items on the streets - have been left with no way to make a living, the Associated Press reported.

Like countries around the world, Morocco is facing the challenge of how to protect populations from the fast-spreading virus while not punishing the poor.

In early March, the Moroccan government began rolling out measures to stem the spread of the virus, culminating in the ongoing lockdown that has turned once bustling cities into ghost towns.

Borders, schools, shops, companies, cafes and mosques have closed. Movement between cities is restricted. Only one member of each household is permitted to leave in order to buy necessities, and those who work in essential jobs must have government-approved permission slips to show at checkpoints or risk facing up to three months in prison.

As the measures started to pinch vulnerable families, Morocco approved emergency support packages to people not registered in public or private sector jobs.

The fund supporting such measures was established by Moroccan King Mohamed VI, and saw mobilization by institutions, businesses and officials.

At the housing complex in Sale´s old medina, children hang around the communal courtyard and run through narrow alleyways. Families share one room where they wash clothes, and fill buckets of water at public fountains.

Volunteers have stepped in to help, visiting the residence to disinfect surfaces, trying to prevent an outbreak of the virus in this crowded corner of Sale.

Kaddour El Miny used to sell water to shoppers in the medina. A job that brought in very little before the COVID-19 lockdown has now stopped entirely.

Ilyas, 61, lives with eight family members. "My sons can´t find jobs."

"We don´t rely on savings or a salary. If we don´t go out to work one day, then we go to sleep hungry."

Teams of volunteers in hazmat suits from Mohamed El Gaid´s aid group Shabab el Mowatana have been visiting slums and densely populated buildings like this one to help clean.

Local authorities supplied a room near a mosque where volunteers gather, store equipment and get water.

"We had to take the initiative and try to complement the government effort," El Gaid said.

"Every effort is necessary."

"We´re all from Sale and want to make a difference," he added, AP reported.

As the volunteers walk up through the tiny stairs of the complex, they´re received with relief and gratitude. People pray out loud for the workers as they disinfect walls and floors.

Residents hope that this will be enough to save them from a contagion they can´t risk facing.



Hezbollah’s ‘Statelet’ in Syria’s Qusayr Under Israeli Fire

Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
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Hezbollah’s ‘Statelet’ in Syria’s Qusayr Under Israeli Fire

Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)

Israel has expanded its strikes against Hezbollah in Syria by targeting the al-Qusayr region in Homs.

Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September and has in the process struck legal and illegal borders between Lebanon and Syria that are used to smuggle weapons to the Iran-backed party. Now, it has expanded its operations to areas of Hezbollah influence inside Syria itself.

Qusayr is located around 20 kms from the Lebanese border. Israeli strikes have destroyed several bridges in the area, including one stretching over the Assi River that is a vital connection between Qusayr and several towns in Homs’ eastern and western countrysides.

Israel has also hit main and side roads and Syrian regime checkpoints in the area.

The Israeli army announced that the latest attacks targeted roads that connect the Syrian side of the border to Lebanon and that are used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah.

Qusayr is strategic position for Hezbollah. The Iran-backed party joined the fight alongside the Syrian regime against opposition factions in the early years of the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011. Hezbollah confirmed its involvement in Syria in 2013.

Hezbollah waged its earliest battles in Syria against the “Free Syrian Army” in Qusayr. After two months of fighting, the party captured the region in mid-June 2013. By then, it was completely destroyed and its population fled to Lebanon.

A source from the Syrian opposition said Hezbollah has turned Qusayr and its countryside to its own “statelet”.

It is now the backbone of its military power and the party has the final say in the area even though regime forces are deployed there, it told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Qusayr is critical for Hezbollah because of its close proximity to the Lebanese border,” it added.

Several of Qusayr’s residents have since returned to their homes. But the source clarified that only regime loyalists and people whom Hezbollah “approves” of have returned.

The region has become militarized by Hezbollah. It houses training centers for the party and Shiite militias loyal to Iran whose fighters are trained by Hezbollah, continued the source.

Since Israel intensified its attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the party moved the majority of its fighters to Qusayr, where the party also stores large amounts of its weapons, it went on to say.

In 2016, Shiite Hezbollah staged a large military parade at the al-Dabaa airport in Qusayr that was seen as a message to the displaced residents, who are predominantly Sunni, that their return home will be impossible, stressed the source.

Even though the regime has deployed its forces in Qusayr, Hezbollah ultimately holds the greatest sway in the area.

Qusayr is therefore of paramount importance to Hezbollah, which will be in no way willing to cede control of.

Lebanese military expert Brig. Gen Saeed Al-Qazah told Asharq Al-Awsat that Qusayr is a “fundamental logistic position for Hezbollah.”

He explained that it is where the party builds its rockets and drones that are delivered from Iran. It is also where the party builds the launchpads for firing its Katyusha and grad rockets.

Qazah added that Qusayr is also significant for its proximity to Lebanon’s al-Hermel city and northeastern Bekaa region where Hezbollah enjoys popular support and where its arms deliveries pass through on their way to the South.

Qazah noted that Israel has not limited its strikes in Qusayr to bridges and main and side roads, but it has also hit trucks headed to Lebanon, stressing that Israel has its eyes focused deep inside Syria, not just the border.