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Media Summary

Coronavirus pandemic grips Middle East

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The Associated Press reports that the official leading Iran’s response to the new coronavirus acknowledged Sunday that the pandemic could overwhelm health facilities in his country, which is battling the worst outbreak in the Middle East while under heavy U.S. sanctions. The Guardian reports that Egypt is likely grappling with a higher rate of coronavirus infections than official figures, according to research by Canadian disease specialists and increasing infection among tourists who departed in recent weeks. The Independent reports that ISIS has warned its followers to avoid travelling to Europe because of the coronavirus outbreak. Reuters reports that President Michel Aoun declared a medical state of emergency in Lebanon on Sunday and called on people to work from home as the country steps up measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The Times, The Telegraph, Reuters, the Financial Times, The Guardian and the Associated Press report that Israeli political parties have backed the opposition leader, Benny Gantz, to form a government, in a shocking blow to Benjamin Netanyahu after he appeared to come out ahead in an election held earlier this month. BBC News reports that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has met the leaders of two rival political parties to try to form a unity cabinet to tackle the coronavirus crisis.

The Independent reports that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s corruption trial was delayed on Sunday for two months, until May, due to the coronavirus crisis.

The Times reports that Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant has slashed its spending plans by $10 billion after the kingdom launched a price war that sent the value of crude tumbling. The Financial Times and Reuters report that Saudi Arabia has detained nearly 300 public servants, including military officers, in a sweeping crackdown against corruption.

Reuters and the Associated Press reports that Russia and Turkey cut short their first joint patrol in Syria’s Idlib on Sunday after rebels and civilians opposed to a ceasefire agreement cut off a main roadway to block its path, according to witnesses and Russian news agencies. The Telegraph reports that Syrian children are freezing to death in unheated tents and abandoned buildings in Idlib province, sources in the region have warned on the ninth anniversary of the bloody civil war.

BBC News reports that there is “credible” evidence British airstrikes against the Islamic State group have killed civilians in Iraq and Syria, the US military has said.

In the Financial Times, Mark Lewis asks whether Saudi Arabia is beginning to shift its strategy in the era of decarbonisation, asserting a ‘reappraisal of assumptions’ may be behind the largest oil producer’s dramatic move.

In The Times, Anthony Lloyd writes that the US-Taliban peace deal leaves the Taliban ‘free to step up slaughtering Afghan citizens’, asserting the Doha agreement will allow bloodshed to continue for years.

The Israeli media report that there are now 250 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Israel, with 4 patients in critical condition. According to Yediot Ahronot, “Senior Health Ministry officials have repeatedly recommended to the prime minister that he impose a general shutdown and declare an emergency economy, meaning that only infrastructure and those work places defined as essential will be permitted to operate. The paper also quotes a Finance Ministry official saying there is no justification for that and it will be hard to enforce. Channel 12 News reports on a teams of police and health ministry officials who are making house checks where there is a suspicion that people who should be in isolation are breaking their quarantine.

The Israeli media report that the cabinet approved regulations enabling the Shin Bet security service to track Israeli citizens in the battle against the coronavirus. They clarified, that it doesn’t mean constantly monitoring citizens, rather an effort would be made to track people who had been in the proximity of infected people in order to warn them and to inform them that they must go into home quarantine.

Amos Harel in Haaretz notes the, “virus has taken a large toll on Iran. The country was struck right at the first stage of its now pandemic spread, apparently partly because authorities delayed closing air traffic with China. The Iranians did not want to anger Beijing, in the context of the extensive trade between the two countries. Since the virus initially spread mainly along the route between the sacred city of Qom and Tehran, it infected a relatively large number of senior people in the regime, who spend a lot of time in both cities… Overall, the way Iran has been dealing with the virus is considered a failure and slow. Even now, intelligence services in the West suspect that the real number of victims in the country is higher than what is stated in the official reports.”

The Israeli media report that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s criminal trial that was due to start tomorrow has been postponed by over two months and will now begin on 24 May. Haaretz reports that, “In the early hours of Sunday, Israeli Justice Minister Amir Ohana announced that emergency measures will be put in place to counter the spread of coronavirus, affecting the workings of Israel’s courts. Ohana later said that the decision to postpone the trial was made solely by the judges on the panel set for the trial, “without any involvement” by politicians.”