High Turnout to Receive Vaccines in Libya

A man receives a vaccine shot in Libya. (Reuters)
A man receives a vaccine shot in Libya. (Reuters)
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High Turnout to Receive Vaccines in Libya

A man receives a vaccine shot in Libya. (Reuters)
A man receives a vaccine shot in Libya. (Reuters)

Authorities in Libya have announced a high turnout by citizens to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, just days after launching the national inoculation campaign.

Libya received 160,000 doses in April, and the prime minister received his first shot live on television.

Head of the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) Bader Al-Din Al-Najjar told Reuters that as more people receive the jab, the number of deaths and severe cases would drop.

Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh launched the vaccination program last week, calling it a "blessed day" in the fight against COVID-19 after he received his first shot.

Libya received around 100,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik. It also received shipments from Turkey.

Health Minister Ali Al-Zanati said previously the government has so far ordered enough doses to inoculate 1.4 million of the country's more than seven million people.

The Libyan National Center for Disease Control said that more than 400,000 registered to receive the vaccine in more than 400 centers across the country.

Libya has reported more than 170,000 cases and almost 3,000 deaths.

However, UN envoys believe the figures to be higher.



International Flights Resume at Damascus Airport

An airport worker walks on the tarmac next to a Syrian Air plane at the Damascus International Airport on January 7, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
An airport worker walks on the tarmac next to a Syrian Air plane at the Damascus International Airport on January 7, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
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International Flights Resume at Damascus Airport

An airport worker walks on the tarmac next to a Syrian Air plane at the Damascus International Airport on January 7, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
An airport worker walks on the tarmac next to a Syrian Air plane at the Damascus International Airport on January 7, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)

International flights resumed at Syria’s main airport in Damascus on Tuesday for the first time since opposition fighters toppled President Bashar Assad last month.

A Syrian Airlines flight bound for Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, took off at around 11:45 am, marking the first international commercial flight from the airport since December 8.

"Today marks a new beginning," Damascus airport director Anis Fallouh told AFP.

"We started welcoming outbound and inbound international flights," he said.

The first local flight since Assad’s ouster took off on Dec. 18 from Damascus airport to Aleppo in the country’s north.
Thirty-two people including journalists were on board the plane.

Assad fled Syria as a lightning opposition offensive wrested from his control city after city.