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Repatriated Lebanese Expats Pose New Challenge in Virus Fight

Lebanese people, who were stranded abroad by coronavirus lockdowns, are pictured wearing face masks and gloves as they hold their luggage upon arrival at Rafik Hariri International Airport, Lebanon April 5, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanese people, who were stranded abroad by coronavirus lockdowns, are pictured wearing face masks and gloves as they hold their luggage upon arrival at Rafik Hariri International Airport, Lebanon April 5, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Repatriated Lebanese Expats Pose New Challenge in Virus Fight

Lebanese people, who were stranded abroad by coronavirus lockdowns, are pictured wearing face masks and gloves as they hold their luggage upon arrival at Rafik Hariri International Airport, Lebanon April 5, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanese people, who were stranded abroad by coronavirus lockdowns, are pictured wearing face masks and gloves as they hold their luggage upon arrival at Rafik Hariri International Airport, Lebanon April 5, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The Lebanese government has launched a new phase of repatriating expatriates, creating greater challenges in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

The Ministry of Health registered 33 new cases of COVID-19 among repatriated nationals in the past 48 hours, and only one local infection, raising the total number to 784 since the first reported case in February.

“We have started a new stage in the return of expatriates,” Health Minister Hamad Hassan said, noting that this step “constitutes a challenge and requires us to take measures back from scratch.”

He stressed, however, that the flights would not be stopped.

He explained that the ministry counted on the “expatriates’ conscience to protect their communities, and to adhere to the measures taken by the ministry and the relevant authorities.”

The arrivals increased the numbers of infections significantly. Twenty-five persons coming from Nigeria tested positive for the virus and were transferred upon arrival to Rafik Hariri Hospital. Out of this number, the Disaster Management Unit in Tyre, in South Lebanon, recorded 12 confirmed cases, raising the number of infections in the city to 15, four of whom have recovered.

A number of Lebanese nationals have also arrived from Syria, where they were stranded due to the lockdown and the closure of land borders.

The National News Agency (NNA) reported that strict measures were taken at al-Abboudieh border crossing, where several buses were brought in to secure the transportation of the returning Lebanese to the dedicated quarantine centers, pending the results of their PCR tests.

The Ministry of Health later announced, in a statement, that all the tests conducted for expats arriving through al-Masnaa and al-Abboudieh crossings came negative.

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Arab World

US Hits Hezbollah with Fresh Sanctions, Says Iran Controls it

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the US Department Of The Treasury on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., US, February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the US Department Of The Treasury on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., US, February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo
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US Hits Hezbollah with Fresh Sanctions, Says Iran Controls it

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the US Department Of The Treasury on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., US, February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the US Department Of The Treasury on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., US, February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo

The United States announced new sanctions Thursday against a Hezbollah financing network, while highlighting the Lebanese armed group's close ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Hezbollah's legal designation as a terrorist organization has been amended to note that it operates in "service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," particularly the elite Quds Force, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The new redesignation "specifies that Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy, not a stand-alone operation as implied by the previous designation," a State Department official said.

"This underscores that Hezbollah operates with little to no regard for Lebanese sovereignty, the Lebanese people, or the Lebanese state."

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the broader Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with a heavy air campaign and ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.

"This action builds on years of US designations that have repeatedly documented the operational, financial, and logistical integration between Hezbollah and the IRGC-QF," the State Department official said, calling Hezbollah "an extension" of the latter.

"It is not a Lebanese resistance movement," as Hezbollah describes itself, the official said.

The new sanctions target 10 people who are allegedly part of a network that transfers cash to Hezbollah, which has already been punished with US sanctions many times, the Treasury statement said.

The network utilizes couriers travelling on commercial airline flights “to move up to hundreds of millions of dollars between jurisdictions, providing an avenue outside the formal financial system for Hezbollah to obtain foreign currency and evade sanctions," the statement said.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier on Thursday that he would hold a press conference on Monday about "the toughest sanctions in history" that Washington plans to impose on Iran.

He said that a plan to sharply increase pain from economic sanctions on Iran aims to "collapse" the country's government.

"It is going to work in Iran and we are going to collapse this regime," he told CNBC. "This is going to be the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world."

Arab World

Arab League Chief Condemns Israeli Violations in Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese Territories

Arab League headquarters in Cairo (The League's official Facebook page)
Arab League headquarters in Cairo (The League's official Facebook page)
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Arab League Chief Condemns Israeli Violations in Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese Territories

Arab League headquarters in Cairo (The League's official Facebook page)
Arab League headquarters in Cairo (The League's official Facebook page)

Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil Fahmy denounced Israel’s violations against Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese territories saying they cannot be viewed as isolated incidents or justified by fabricated security claims.

He said these actions reflect a persistent approach marked by the use of force, the imposition of a fait accompli, and violations of states' sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Saudi Press Agency said on Thursday.

In a statement, Fahmy asserted that Israel continues to act as a state that disregards international law. He called on the UN Security Council and the international community to take responsibility and implement practical measures to stop these violations and end the policy of impunity.

Fahmy underscored that Israel's actions not only threaten countries in the region but also undermine the credibility of the international legal order. He said they reinforce the notion that force can serve as an alternative to international legitimacy.

Arab World

Abdi Announces Completion of SDF’s Civil, Military Integration with Damascus

(FILES) Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi, speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
(FILES) Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi, speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
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Abdi Announces Completion of SDF’s Civil, Military Integration with Damascus

(FILES) Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi, speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
(FILES) Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi, speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

The integration of the Kurdish administration within Syria's state institutions is now complete, Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said on Thursday.

The announcement follows months of negotiations between the two sides after a January agreement that called for the full integration of Kurdish civil and military institutions into the state -- a move Washington deemed "historic.”

"I want to say that the phase of integrating military, security and administrative institutions into national state institutions is complete and finished," Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said at an event in Qamishli in northeastern Syria.

"From now on, we begin a new phase," he added.

"Our struggle will continue, to cement our people's rights in the constitution."

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa shakes hands with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Damascus on March 10, 2025 (SANA)

The January agreement, signed by Abdi and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, followed clashes between Syrian Kurdish fighters and the new authorities' forces that saw the Kurds lose swathes of territory they held in the oil-rich north and northeast.

Amid the violence, al-Sharaa signed on January 16 a decree enshrining the Kurds' national rights and recognizing Kurdish as a national language.

A photo showing SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi with his fighters wearing the military uniform of the Syrian Ministry of Defense as part of the integration steps last February (social media)

In February, Noureddine Ahmed Eissa, a Kurd from the city of Qamishli, was appointed governor of Hasakeh. In March, senior Kurdish military official Sipan Hamo was appointed regional assistant defense minister.

As part of the deal's implementation, government forces entered the cities of Hasakeh and Qamishli, and Damascus took over the management of Qamishli airport and key oil fields.

US troops also transferred more than 5,700 ISIS detainees in previously Kurdish-controlled camps to neighboring Iraq.