Tunisia Weighs Tightening Coronavirus Restrictions

Tunisian healthcare workers assist an elderly woman during inoculation at El-Menzah sports hall in Tunisia's capital Tunis on May 3, 2021. (Getty Images)
Tunisian healthcare workers assist an elderly woman during inoculation at El-Menzah sports hall in Tunisia's capital Tunis on May 3, 2021. (Getty Images)
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Tunisia Weighs Tightening Coronavirus Restrictions

Tunisian healthcare workers assist an elderly woman during inoculation at El-Menzah sports hall in Tunisia's capital Tunis on May 3, 2021. (Getty Images)
Tunisian healthcare workers assist an elderly woman during inoculation at El-Menzah sports hall in Tunisia's capital Tunis on May 3, 2021. (Getty Images)

Tunisia may introduce new coronavirus restrictions as cases rise in the country.

On Monday, the Education Ministry closed several schools and continues to monitor the strict application of the health protocol at all educational institutions.

The Scientific Committee to Combat the Coronavirus has proposed a night-time curfew and a three-week ban on cultural gatherings, sports and cultural events to curb infections with the fast-spreading Omicron variant and prevent a fifth wave of the pandemic.

The Tunisian government will discuss these recommendations during a meeting on Tuesday with members of the Committee.

Education Minister Fathi Slaouti said his ministry has closed five schools and 31 classes due to the detection of virus cases.

Meanwhile, Tunisia registered seven COVID-19 deaths and 2,579 infections on January 8. It marked the sixth consecutive day that new cases cross the 2,000 threshold.

The caseload hit 743,838 and the death toll 25,665 while the number of recoveries rose by 331 to 698,788, the Health Ministry said.

More than half of the country’s population has completed vaccination against the coronavirus.

It said more than six million are currently fully vaccinated while more than 925,000 received the third booster dose.



Syria Arrests Assad-era Officer Accused of 'War Crimes'

Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
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Syria Arrests Assad-era Officer Accused of 'War Crimes'

Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)

Syrian authorities said Tuesday they had arrested a former officer in the feared security apparatus of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, the latest such announcement as the new government pursues ex-officials accused of atrocities.

The interior ministry announced in a statement that security forces in the coastal province of Latakia had arrested the "criminal brigadier-general Sultan al-Tinawi", saying he was a key officer in the air force intelligence, one of the Assad family's most trusted security agencies.

The statement accused Tinawi of involvement in "committing war crimes against civilians, including a massacre" in the Damascus countryside in 2016.

It said he was responsible for "coordinating between the leadership of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and a number of sectarian groups in Syria".

Tinawi has been referred to the public prosecution for further investigation, the statement said.

A security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that Tinawi held senior administrative positions in the air force intelligence when Jamil Hassan was head of the notorious agency.

Hassan has been sentenced in absentia in France for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, while the United States has accused him of "war crimes", including overseeing barrel bomb attacks on Syrian people that killed thousands of civilians.

Tinawi had been "head of the information branch of the air force intelligence" before Assad's ouster late last year, the security source told AFP, describing the branch as "one of the most powerful and secret security agencies in the country".

Since taking power in December, Syria's new authorities have announced a number of arrests of Assad-era security officials.

Assad fled to Moscow with only a handful of confidants, abandoning senior officials and security officers, some of whom have reportedly fled to neighboring countries or taken refuge in the coastal heartland of Assad's Alawite minority community.