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Jordan Deploys Army to Implement Covid-19 Containment Policy

Students at a private school in the Jordanian capital Amman (Reuters)
Students at a private school in the Jordanian capital Amman (Reuters)
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Jordan Deploys Army to Implement Covid-19 Containment Policy

Students at a private school in the Jordanian capital Amman (Reuters)
Students at a private school in the Jordanian capital Amman (Reuters)

A total of 1,199 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Wednesday across Jordan, bringing the total number of cases in the Kingdom to 20,200, according to a joint daily brief by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health.

The majority of Wednesday’s cases were registered in the capital which accounted for 870 infections, the statement said.

Apart from the capital, Amman, the caseload was particularly centered in densely populated provinces like Irbid and Zarqa.

Nine Covid-19 deaths were also recorded on Wednesday, bringing up the national tally to a total of 131 deaths.

Medical sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that there were a number of coronavirus patients in critical standing at specialized hospitals.

Jordanian authorities had announced on Tuesday that a full lockdown would be imposed every Friday and Saturday until further notice after a surge in coronavirus cases. The lockdown comes as part of the efforts spent by the Kingdom’s authorities to stem the spread of the virus.

As of Wednesday morning, armed forces were deployed in all governorates of the Kingdom to ensure the implementation of the complete shutdown and back the efforts of Public Security personnel.

Sources close to the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Friday and Saturday lockdown was in line with a policy to confront challenging social distancing violators who insisted on holding weddings on private real-estate and Friday prayers in Mosques.

Jordan’s government had tightened the penalties for violators of public safety regulations designed to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The Minister of State for Media Affairs Amjad Adaileh announced the issuance of Defense Order No.17, 2020 which stiffened punitive measures taken against violators of health measures.

Speaking during a joint press briefing at the Prime Ministry, Adaileh said that under Defence Order No.17, the defense orders No. 8 and 16 were amended to increase fines against violators to be no less than JD500 and no more than JD1,000, for a first-time offense.

For a repeat offense, violators would face a maximum one-year jail term or a fine of no less than JD1,000 and no more than JD3,000, or both penalties.

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Arab World

UN Doubles Appeal for Lebanon Aid to Nearly $640 Mn

A man inspects the aftermath at the site of an Israeli strike that hit the previous day in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on June 5, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
A man inspects the aftermath at the site of an Israeli strike that hit the previous day in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on June 5, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
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UN Doubles Appeal for Lebanon Aid to Nearly $640 Mn

A man inspects the aftermath at the site of an Israeli strike that hit the previous day in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on June 5, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
A man inspects the aftermath at the site of an Israeli strike that hit the previous day in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on June 5, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)

The UN on Friday more than doubled its aid appeal for Lebanon as the country reels from Israel's war against Hezbollah, saying nearly $640 million was needed over six months.

"The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon is severe and deteriorating," the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a revised appeal for the country.

"Repeated displacements, insufficient shelter capacity and limited prospects for safe return are deepening vulnerability," it said, warning that "affected people are rapidly exhausting their coping capacities, and essential services are under increasing strain."

The UN had appealed for $308 million in March to support a massive emergency response led by Lebanon's government through to the end of May.

On Friday it said that another $331 million would be needed through the end of August.

Only $185 million had so far been received out of the initial appeal, OCHA said, adding that that amount had helped provide assistance to around 680,000 people between March 2 and May 31.

The aim now, it said, was to more than double that number to reach all of the 1.4 million people in Lebanon -- around a quarter of the population -- estimated to need humanitarian assistance in the country.

Lebanon says Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war on March 2, firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader.

Nearly one million people have fled their homes while more than 1.2 million are facing acute food insecurity, Friday's appeal showed.

Price pressure was adding to the misery, with the cost of water, fuel and electricity up more than a third nationally, and as high as 70 percent in the conflict-affected areas, AFP quoted it as saying.

It also highlighted the strain that the conflict was placing on healthcare in Lebanon, with 62 hospitals and other health facilities either damaged or closed.

OCHA said nearly 450 schools were being used to shelter displaced people, driving learning loss and drop-out risks.

Arab World

Israel Issues Evacuation Warnings North of Litani, Kills 7 in Strikes on Tyre

04 June 2026, Lebanon, Arnoun: Smoke billows after an Israeli air raid on the Southern Lebanese village of Arnoun. Photo: Stringer/dpa
04 June 2026, Lebanon, Arnoun: Smoke billows after an Israeli air raid on the Southern Lebanese village of Arnoun. Photo: Stringer/dpa
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Israel Issues Evacuation Warnings North of Litani, Kills 7 in Strikes on Tyre

04 June 2026, Lebanon, Arnoun: Smoke billows after an Israeli air raid on the Southern Lebanese village of Arnoun. Photo: Stringer/dpa
04 June 2026, Lebanon, Arnoun: Smoke billows after an Israeli air raid on the Southern Lebanese village of Arnoun. Photo: Stringer/dpa

Israel's military warned residents of three villages north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon to evacuate on Friday as strikes overnight in the south Lebanon city of Tyre killed seven people.

"For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the villages and towns by at least 1,000 meters into open areas. Anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, their facilities, or their weapons endangers their life!" the army's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.

Israel also warned of imminent strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon's Sarafand.

Overnight, Israeli strikes in the south Lebanon city of Tyre killed seven people, a source from Lebanon's civil defense told AFP, despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

One strike near the Jabal Amel hospital killed four people, wounded seven and lightly damaged the facility, while another elsewhere in the city killed three and wounded five, including two children.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Thursday rejected a conditional truce announced by Lebanese and Israeli envoys, demanding a comprehensive ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal instead as he threatened northern Israel with new attacks.

Arab World

Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Man in West Bank

An Israeli soldier takes position during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
An Israeli soldier takes position during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Man in West Bank

An Israeli soldier takes position during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
An Israeli soldier takes position during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, 01 June 2026. (EPA)

Israeli forces shot dead an 18-year-old Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said Friday, while the military said it had killed someone who threw firebombs at vehicles.

In the early hours of Friday, the health ministry said it had been informed of "the martyrdom of the young man Haitham Ezzedine Omar Hmeida, 18, by occupation gunfire in the village of Beitin," northeast of Ramallah.

It added that the man's body was being withheld.

In a statement, the Israeli military said its forces had "identified several terrorists throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles traveling on a major roadway" near the village of Beitin.

"The soldiers opened fire at the terrorists and eliminated one of them," the military said, adding that its forces were "currently pursuing the remaining suspects."

Since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023 with Hamas's attack on Israel, near-daily violence has rocked the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,078 Palestinians since then, including many gunmen, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry data.

Official Israeli figures show at least 46 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period.