Coronavirus Spreading in Syria’s Daraa, Sweida

Taher Abdelbaki, a doctor, prepares to receive a dose of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at Ibn Sina medical center in opposition-held Idlib city, Syria, May 6, 2021. (Reuters)
Taher Abdelbaki, a doctor, prepares to receive a dose of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at Ibn Sina medical center in opposition-held Idlib city, Syria, May 6, 2021. (Reuters)
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Coronavirus Spreading in Syria’s Daraa, Sweida

Taher Abdelbaki, a doctor, prepares to receive a dose of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at Ibn Sina medical center in opposition-held Idlib city, Syria, May 6, 2021. (Reuters)
Taher Abdelbaki, a doctor, prepares to receive a dose of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at Ibn Sina medical center in opposition-held Idlib city, Syria, May 6, 2021. (Reuters)

Doctors in Daraa have warned of the outbreak of the coronavirus throughout most of the province, saying that the southern Syrian region was witnessing an unprecedented rise in the number of infections.

Speaking on condition of anonymity for security considerations, a doctor in Daraa told Asharq Al-Awsat that the province registered more than 120 new infections and two deaths over the past two days.

He added that the area saw an unprecedented rise in cases a few days earlier, reaching nearly 200 infections, the highest daily tally since the beginning of the outbreak.

The doctor said he expected that the coming days will witness a new increase in the number of infected people due to non-compliance to preventive measures and social distancing, in addition to the fragility of the health care system.

He stressed that the health sector is suffering from a shortage of medical equipment and necessary materials, while also noting the major damage to the infrastructure due to the long years of conflict.

Furthermore, the doctor confirmed the presence of new mutated strains of the coronavirus, which are more dangerous and rapidly spreading.

“We are witnessing infections among all age groups, including young people and even children,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Meanwhile, Sweida 24 Network said in a recent report that Sweida National Hospital registered the death of three patients infected with the coronavirus over the past week, along with the increase in the number of infections.

Despite the public awareness campaigns about the virus and recent vaccination campaigns carried out by the Ministry of Health, medical studies pointed to the spread of the fourth generation of the Delta variant, which spreads more rapidly among all age groups.

The Syrian Ministry of Health recently announced that the occupancy rate at Covid-19 wards in hospitals in Damascus and Latakia have reached full capacity.



Syrians Recover Human Remains from Site Used by Hezbollah and Other Assad Allies

An aerial view taken with a drone shows members of the Syrian Civil Defense group, the White Helmets, loading human remains in body bags on a truck in the Sayyida Zeinab district of Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
An aerial view taken with a drone shows members of the Syrian Civil Defense group, the White Helmets, loading human remains in body bags on a truck in the Sayyida Zeinab district of Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
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Syrians Recover Human Remains from Site Used by Hezbollah and Other Assad Allies

An aerial view taken with a drone shows members of the Syrian Civil Defense group, the White Helmets, loading human remains in body bags on a truck in the Sayyida Zeinab district of Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
An aerial view taken with a drone shows members of the Syrian Civil Defense group, the White Helmets, loading human remains in body bags on a truck in the Sayyida Zeinab district of Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024. (EPA)

The Syrian Civil Defense group, known as the White Helmets, uncovered at least 21 corpses as well as incomplete human remains on Wednesday in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb of the capital Damascus.

The discovery was made at a site previously used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran-backed Iraqi militias, both allies of deposed President Bashar al-Assad during the country’s civil war.

The site included a field kitchen, a drugstore and a morgue, according to Ammar al-Salmo, an official with the White Helmets, a volunteer organization that operated in areas that were controlled by the opposition.

Rescue teams in white hazmat suits searched the site, located not far from the revered shrine of Sayyida Zeinab. The remains were placed into black bags and loaded onto a truck as bystanders from the neighborhood looked on.

“Some (of the remains) are skeletons, others are incomplete, and there are bags of small bones. We cannot yet determine the number of victims,” al-Salmo said.

“Damascus has become a mass grave,” he said, pointing out the growing reports of war-related graves and burial sites in the capital and other places in Syria.

Iran and Hezbollah provided Assad’s government with military, financial and logistical support during the civil war.