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Iran Resumes Religious Flights to Damascus

The Sayyida Zaynab shrine near Damascus. (Iranian agencies)
The Sayyida Zaynab shrine near Damascus. (Iranian agencies)
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Iran Resumes Religious Flights to Damascus

The Sayyida Zaynab shrine near Damascus. (Iranian agencies)
The Sayyida Zaynab shrine near Damascus. (Iranian agencies)

Iran resumed on Sunday religious flights to Damascus, two years after they were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The first flight carried 25 tourists who will stay in the Syrian capital for five days.

The trips restarted after Iranians received the full approval of Syrian authorities, pledging to take all precautionary and medical measures against COVID-19.

Two trips will follow: the second will arrive in Damascus at the end of this week, while a third will follow early next week.

Each flight will carry 25 passengers from Iran. Sources in Damascus said Tehran will cover all travel expenses.

The Iranians will visit the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zaynab south of Damascus. The overcrowded predominantly Shiite area is home to the families of pro-Iran militias.

“There are about 13,000 beds in the Zaynabiya area ready to accommodate visitors,” said Syrian Tourism Minister Muhammad Rami Martini, who indicated that there are many hotels in Damascus ready to provide services to visitors if the need arises.

More flights can also be operated if the need arises, he added.

Martini had expressed the keenness of Interior Minister Mohammad al-Rahmoun to resume religious visits by Iranians to Syria.

In 2020, Syria stopped religious flights coming from Iran as part of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

A week ago, head of Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, Alireza Rashidian, announced that Tehran will resume sending religious visitors to Syria, IRNA reported.

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China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
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China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Chinese health authorities said on Thursday they had detected the new mutated mpox strain clade Ib as the viral infection spreads to more countries after the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency last year.
China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention said it had found a cluster outbreak of the Ib subclade that started with the infection a foreigner who has a history of travel and residence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Reuters reported.
Four further cases have been found in people infected after close contact with the foreigner. The patients' symptoms are mild and include skin rash and blisters.
Mpox spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. Although usually mild, it can be fatal in rare cases.
WHO last August declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that spread to neighboring countries.
The outbreak in DRC began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as clade I. But the clade Ib variant appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact.
The variant has spread from DRC to neighboring countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, triggering the emergency declaration from the WHO.
China said in August last year it would monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox.
The country's National Health Commission said mpox would be managed as a Category B infectious disease, enabling officials to take emergency measures such as restricting gatherings, suspending work and school, and sealing off areas when there is an outbreak of a disease.