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Egypt: Huge Quantity of COVID Vaccine Doses Found Dumped in Wastewater Canal

Lab experts preparing COVID vaccine doses at Cairo factory (EPA)
Lab experts preparing COVID vaccine doses at Cairo factory (EPA)
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Egypt: Huge Quantity of COVID Vaccine Doses Found Dumped in Wastewater Canal

Lab experts preparing COVID vaccine doses at Cairo factory (EPA)
Lab experts preparing COVID vaccine doses at Cairo factory (EPA)

A large number of COVID-19 vaccine doses were found dumped on a small wastewater canal in Egypt's Bani Mazar city, raising concerns among residents.

Minya Governor Major General Osama el-Qadi said an urgent investigation was launched into the incident, while three persons were being interrogated for their suspected involvement in the incident.

On Thursday, locals found the dumped vaccine doses in the village of Abshak, located in the Bani Mazar city, and they quickly informed the local authorities.

It is still not clear why the doses were dumped at the canal or whether they were expired at the time.

Eyewitnesses said they found AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Sputnik vaccine doses scattered near the wastewater canal.

A medical source in Minya told Akhbar Al-Youm that more than 1,000 ampules of the vaccines were found.

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Lebanon Returns 70 Officers and Soldiers to Syria, Security Official Says

A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
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Lebanon Returns 70 Officers and Soldiers to Syria, Security Official Says

A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)

Lebanon expelled around 70 Syrian officers and soldiers on Saturday, returning them to Syria after they crossed into the country illegally via informal routes, a Lebanese security official and a war monitor said.

Many senior Syrian officials and people close to the former ruling family of Bashar al-Assad fled the country to neighboring Lebanon after Assad's regime was toppled on Dec 8.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based organization with sources in Syria, and the Lebanese security official said Syrian military personnel of various ranks had been sent back via Lebanon's northern Arida crossing.

SOHR and the security official said the returnees were detained by Syria's new ruling authorities after crossing the border.

The new administration has been undertaking a major security crackdown in recent days on what they say are "remnants" of the Assad regime.

Several of the cities and towns concerned, including in Homs and Tartous provinces, are near the porous border with Lebanon.

The Lebanese security official said the Syrian officers and soldiers were found in a truck in the northern coastal city of Jbeil after an inspection by local officials.

Lebanese and Syrian government officials did not immediately respond to written requests for comment on the incident.

Reuters reported on Friday that Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of Assad charged in Switzerland with war crimes over the bloody suppression of a revolt in 1982, had flown out of Beirut recently, as had "many members" of the Assad family.

Earlier this month, Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said top Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban had flown out of Beirut after entering Lebanon legally.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, Mawlawi said other Syrian officials had entered Lebanon illegally and were being pursued.