MERS death in Dubai raises global toll to 70

December 3, 2013

Dubai, Dec 3: Health authorities in the capital of the United Arab Emirates say a woman has died from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS.

The health authority in Abu Dhabi reported the death of the Jordanian woman, 38, on Tuesday. Her husband and son have also contracted the virus. It says they are in stable condition.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a separate statement issued Monday the earliest onset of illness was on Nov. 15, 2013.

It said the family had no travel history, no contact with a known confirmed case and no history of contact with animals.

Scientists had earlier said they have found clues that the virus was passed on to humans from camels.

“While hospitalized, the mother gave birth to a newborn child. The 8-year-old son, who has mild respiratory symptoms, was detected from epidemiological investigation of family contacts, and is being kept in hospital isolation. Further investigations into close contacts of the family, the newborn baby, and healthcare workers are on-going,” said the WHO statement.

Two other patients confirmed to be suffering from MERS in nearby Qatar have also died, on November 19 and 29, the statement said.

Since September 2012 when MERS was first discovered, the WHO has been informed of a total of 163 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 70 deaths.

Saudi Arabia is the worst-affected, accounting for 55 deaths out of 130 confirmed cases.

Experts are struggling to understand the MERS virus, for which there is no vaccine.

It is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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