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Damascus Pleased with Iran’s Announcement of Vaccine Success

Children ride on a bicycle at a damaged site after an airstrike in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria February 9, 2018. (Reuters)
Children ride on a bicycle at a damaged site after an airstrike in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria February 9, 2018. (Reuters)
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Damascus Pleased with Iran’s Announcement of Vaccine Success

Children ride on a bicycle at a damaged site after an airstrike in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria February 9, 2018. (Reuters)
Children ride on a bicycle at a damaged site after an airstrike in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria February 9, 2018. (Reuters)

Hours after Russia announced that its military forces in Syria had started to receive the vaccine against the coronavirus, Damascus was pleased that Iran announced the success of the first trials of its vaccine.

The official Syrian News Agency (SANA) quoted an Iranian official as saying that the results of first-phase trials of the Iranian Covid-19 vaccine were positive for all volunteers.

Talks between Damascus and Moscow have failed to yield tangible results regarding the supply of the Russian vaccine. Syrian Minister of Health, Hassan Al-Ghobash, revealed to the People’s Assembly last week that the government had held discussions with Moscow some two months ago to import the vaccine, but spoke of “conditions that do not suit the Syrian government.”

“We will not accept that this vaccine comes at the expense of other matters related to the Syrian citizens and sovereignty,” he stated.

It is not clear whether Damascus is seeking to obtain the Iranian vaccine after the failure of its negotiations with Russia.

The Iranian official’s statement, quoted by SANA, came during a press conference in Tehran, during which he said that the Iranian vaccine “responds well to all tests.”

He added that three million doses of the vaccine would be produced by the end of the Iranian year, which falls on March 20.

Earlier this week, the Syrian Ministry of Health announced that it would work exceptionally within the People’s Assembly to amend the legislation pertaining to the import of vaccines, because the Syrian law prohibits the use of vaccines that have not been tested for at least three years.

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Israel Demolishes Seven Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel Demolishes Seven Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)

Municipal workers began demolishing seven homes in occupied east Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood on Tuesday, Palestinian residents and the municipality said, after an Israeli court called their construction illegal.

"This morning the Jerusalem Municipality, with a security escort from the Israel police, began its enforcement against illegal buildings in the Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan," Jerusalem's Israeli-controlled city hall said in a statement.

Activist Fakhri Abu Diab, one of those affected by the demolition, confirmed that "at least seven homes have been demolished, and the operation is ongoing".

He said that both houses and apartments were affected.

"They demolished my home, which I had renovated after it was previously demolished earlier this year, as well as my son's house, Haitham Ayed's family home, and four homes belonging to the Al-Ruwaidi family," Abu Diab told AFP.

He said around "40 people, including children, were affected by the demolitions in the neighborhood, leaving them homeless".

An AFP photographer saw at least four bulldozers operating on Tuesday at demolition sites in the neighborhood under tight Israeli police supervision.

In a statement, Jerusalem city hall pointed to court orders that call for the demolition of the buildings due to zoning laws that make them illegal.

However, Palestinian residents and activists accuse the municipality of concealing its true intentions.

"The buildings, like most of the buildings in the neighborhood, are located on an area that is a green designation, that is, an open public area and where there is no possibility for zoning," the municipality said, adding that the area would become a green zone instead.

Abu Diab said the true aim of the demolitions was "to reduce the percentage of Arabs and alter the demographic composition of Jerusalem in favor of (Israeli) settlers", connecting them to west Jerusalem.

Israel "is above international law, has escaped accountability, and is exploiting global focus on the wars in Gaza and Lebanon and the US elections", he said.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.

Some 230,000 Israeli settlers live in east Jerusalem, according to the United Nations. Another 3,000 live in Palestinian neighborhoods within east Jerusalem's boundaries, according to Israeli rights organization Peace Now.