535 COVID-19 Cases Reported in Lebanon’s Prisons

Caretaker Minister of Information, Manal Abdel Samad holds joint press conference with caretaker Minister of Public Health, Hamad Hassan on Thursday. (NNA)
Caretaker Minister of Information, Manal Abdel Samad holds joint press conference with caretaker Minister of Public Health, Hamad Hassan on Thursday. (NNA)
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535 COVID-19 Cases Reported in Lebanon’s Prisons

Caretaker Minister of Information, Manal Abdel Samad holds joint press conference with caretaker Minister of Public Health, Hamad Hassan on Thursday. (NNA)
Caretaker Minister of Information, Manal Abdel Samad holds joint press conference with caretaker Minister of Public Health, Hamad Hassan on Thursday. (NNA)

Lebanon’s General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces announced Thursday that 535 coronavirus cases have been reported in the country’s largest prison, Roumieh, following tests on 1,706 inmates.

Lebanon has been struggling to contain the spread of the virus, reporting a daily rate of infections of 1,600 in the past two weeks. Earlier this week it announced a two-week nationwide lockdown to contain the outbreak.

The ISF explained that 67 positive cases were registered at the detention center at the Beirut Justice Palace. One patient is being treated at hospital and 464 have already recovered.

It said that infections were also reported in other prisons, including Batroun Prison in the north, where four cases were registered and 17 have recovered. The ISF said two cases were reported in the Zahle prison, saying they were in stable condition.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Public Health announced 1,874 new coronavirus infections and 12 more deaths across Lebanon in the past 24 hours.

During a press conference on Thursday, caretaker Minister of Public Health Hamad Hassan called on citizens to respect preventive measures, including wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.

Caretaker Information Minister Nada Abdel Samad announced that the situation is dangerous.

“Yesterday, we were coping with 96,900 cases, but today they have climbed to 99,000. In other words, for every 100 people, two are infected. For every 50, one may be infected and may spread the virus to two, three or more people,” she said.

Deaths are also on the rise, with an average of 11 being reported daily, she added. The health sector has also not been spared the virus, with 17 infections being reported among medical staff. Three have died from the virus and 250 are in isolation.



Toll in Syria Opposition-army Fighting Rises to 242

Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
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Toll in Syria Opposition-army Fighting Rises to 242

Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)

More than 240 people, mostly combatants, were killed as intense fighting approached Syria's northern Aleppo city after the opposition launched a major offensive on government-held areas this week, a monitor said Friday.
On Wednesday, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied Turkish-backed factions launched an attack on government-held areas in the northwest, triggering the fiercest fighting since 2020, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said fighting reached two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the main northern city of Aleppo, where the group’s artillery shelling on student housing killed four civilians, according to state media.
"The combatants' death toll in the ongoing... operation in the Idlib and Aleppo countrysides has risen to 218," since Wednesday, said the British-based monitor with a network of sources inside Syria.
In addition to the fighters, it said 24 civilians were killed.
Syrian ally Russia launched air strikes that killed 19 civilians on Thursday, while another civilian had been killed in Syrian army shelling a day earlier, said the Observatory which on Thursday had reported an overall toll of about 200 dead, including the civilians.