Kuwait bans unvaccinated citizens from traveling abroad

CAIRO - Kuwait on Tuesday said only citizens who have been vaccinated for the coronavirus will be allowed to travel abroad starting on Aug. 1.

A government statement said the rule excepted children under age of 16, those with a health ministry certificate saying they cannot be vaccinated, and pregnant women who have a pregnancy proof certificate from authorities.

Also on Tuesday, the civil aviation authority said that all arrivals in Kuwait must have a negative COVID-19 PCR test before they board their flights and must not be showing any symptoms.

All arrivals will have to be home quarantined for seven days unless they take a COVID-19 PCR test inside Kuwait that comes out negative.

The Kuwaiti government on Monday eased some coronavirus related restrictions and resumed all activities except for gatherings which include conferences, weddings, and social events.

-reuters-

Dubai allows breastfeeding women to get COVID-19 vaccine

DUBAI - The Dubai Health Authority said on Saturday it was allowing women who are breastfeeding and those planning on conceiving to take the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Dubai Media Office.

In a Twitter post, the media office said this was in line with the latest international studies and guidelines on coronavirus vaccines.

It also said the DHA was cutting the time frame of vaccine eligibility for those who have previously contracted COVID-19 to 10 days from three months, provided the case was mild or asymptomatic.

(Reporting by Yousef Saba Editing by Mark Heinrich)

-reuters-

Gatherings banned, travel restricted as coronavirus cases grow worldwide

WASHINGTON - Leaders in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas rolled out bans on big gatherings, and stricter travel restrictions as cases of the new coronavirus spread around the world.

The United States on Saturday reported its first death from the disease, a Washington state man in his 50s. Two of the state's three cases have links to a nursing home, state officials said, where dozens of residents have symptoms of the disease.

US President Donald Trump and top officials said in a White House press briefing that travelers from South Korea and Italy would be subject to additional screening, and warned Americans against traveling to coronavirus-affected regions in both countries.

US Vice President Mike Pence said a ban on travelers from Iran entering the country would be expanded to include any foreign nationals who have visited Iran in the last 14 days. The United States may also restrict travel on its southern border with Mexico, officials said.

However, they encouraged Americans to travel around the country, including to states where some of the country's more than 60 cases of the disease have been recorded.

The outbreak is disrupting demand for flights and many airlines have suspended or modified services in response. After Saturday's press conference, the White House held a call with airlines to discuss new travel restrictions.

NEW CASES

Ecuador on Saturday reported its first case, in a woman who had traveled from Madrid, while Mexico reported four cases, all in people who had visited Italy.

Brazilian officials confirmed that country's second case, a patient in São Paulo who recently visited Italy.

As governments worldwide stepped up efforts to halt the spread of the virus, France announced a temporary ban on public gatherings with more than 5,000 people in confined spaces. It reported 16 new cases for a total of 73, and canceled a half-marathon of 40,000 runners scheduled for Sunday.

Switzerland said it is banning events expected to draw more than 1,000 people.

More than 700 tourists remain quarantined at a hotel in the Canary Islands, after several Italian guests there tested positive for coronavirus.

Schools and universities in Italy, which is experiencing Europe's worst outbreak of the disease, will stay closed for a second consecutive week in three northern regions. The country has reported some 900 cases and 21 deaths.

Analysts have warned that the outbreak looks set to shunt Italy's fragile economy into its fourth recession in 12 years, with many businesses in the wealthy north close to a standstill and hotels reporting a wave of cancellations.

FOCUS ON IRAN

Iraq reported five new cases of the disease, bringing its total to 13, and Qatar reported its first Saturday, leaving Saudi Arabia as the only Gulf state not to have signaled any coronavirus cases.

The majority of infections in other Gulf countries have been linked to visits to Iran or involve people who have come into contact with people who had been there.

Tehran has ordered schools shut until Tuesday and extended the closure of universities and a ban on concerts and sports events for a week. Authorities have also banned visits to hospitals and nursing homes as the country's case load hit nearly 600.

One Iranian lawmaker, elected in Feb. 21 polls, has died from the disease along with more than 40 other Iranians, and several high-ranking officials have tested positive for the virus.

Azerbaijan said on Saturday it had closed its border with Iran for two weeks to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Two Azerbaijanis who traveled to Iran have tested positive for the disease and quarantined.

Mainland China reported 573 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Feb. 29, up from 427 on the previous day, the country's health authority said. The number of deaths stood at 35, down from 47 on the previous day, and bringing the total death toll in mainland China to 2,870.

The epidemic, which began in China, has killed almost 3,000 people worldwide, the ministry said.

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Iran says 34 dead, 388 infected with coronavirus

DUBAI - Thirty-four people have died from coronavirus in Iran and 388 are infected by the virus, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur announced on state television on Friday.

The vast majority of infections were in three provinces: Tehran, 128, Qom, 88, and Gilan, 65, according to a map published by the official IRNA news agency citing health ministry figures.

Iran canceled Friday prayers in the capitals of 23 of Iran's 31 provinces because of the coronavirus outbreak, state television reported on Thursday.

Tehran, the national capital, and the Shi’ite Muslim holy cities of Qom and Mashhad were among places where authorities called off Friday prayers.

Those infected in Iran include Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi and Masoumeh Ebtekar, vice president for women and family affairs.

The Islamic Republic is the only country in the Gulf region that has reported deaths from the coronavirus, which has spread from China, but people have been infected in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

Three new cases reported on Friday in Bahrain took the total diagnosed with the coronavirus there to 36, and two new cases reported by Kuwait took the total infected there to 45.

All those infected in Bahrain and Kuwait had travelled to Iran or were contaminated by people who went there, according to officials in the two Gulf Arab states.

The United Arab Emirates has granted Iran permission to send a handful of flights to Dubai to fly Iranians home, the ISNA news agency reported, citing information from Iran's consulate in Dubai.

Saudi Arabia has reported no deaths or infections and has tightened travel restrictions to try to prevent it from spreading across its borders.

The United States asked its military in Saudi Arabia to avoid crowded venues, including malls and cinemas, as coronavirus was reported spreading in neighboring countries, according to a document from the US embassy seen by Reuters on Friday.

Oman on Friday restricted the entry of citizens from other Gulf Arab states who had previously been able to enter by showing national identification cards. 

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World stocks hit record ahead of US-China trade deal

NEW YORK -- Bond yields edged higher while a gauge of global equity markets hit a record high on Monday, lifted by optimism over the planned signing this week of a US-China trade deal and hopes the start of the US corporate earnings season will not disappoint.

Gold prices fell almost 1 percent ahead of the signing at the White House on Wednesday of the Phase 1 trade deal and as a de-escalation in US-Iran tensions in the Middle East reduced bullion's safe-haven appeal.

US and euro zone government bond yields rose as the trade deal marks a major step in ending a dispute that has cut global growth and boosted demand for such safe-haven assets as bonds, gold and currencies like the Japanese yen and Swiss franc.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.51 percent, topping a record set on Friday, while emerging market stocks rose 0.96 percent. The benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq composite indexes also hit all-time and closing highs on Wall Street.

The United States is planning to lift its designation of China as a currency manipulator, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, a move that added to the positive mood among investors.

Middle East tensions rose after the United States killed a top Iranian general on Jan. 2 in Baghdad, knocking global stocks off a rally spurred in late 2019 on hopes a trade deal would be signed. Markets have rebounded as both Tehran and Washington desisted from further escalation after Iran retaliated for the killing with a missile attack on US troops in Iraq.

Investors are waiting for corporate results that start in earnest this week with large US banks, including Citigroup Inc , JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co, due to report on Tuesday. Excluding energy, fourth-quarter earnings growth estimates are 1.9 percent, according to Refinitiv.

"It's put up or shut up time," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey. "We've priced in a big rally, we expect growth and now it's time to see it. If we have a good earnings season, then it will be great."

Saluzzi said, however, that he would not be surprised if US equities enter a "bit of a correction" despite a strong economic outlook, as they trade at almost 19 times expected earnings in 2020.

"Everything's humming along," he added. "With that said, it doesn't take much to bang down on a market that is fully valued and had quite a run. Let's not kid ourselves."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 83.28 points, or 0.29 percent, to 28,907.05. The S&P 500 gained 22.78 points, or 0.70 percent, to 3,288.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 95.07 points, or 1.04 percent, to 9,273.93.

Facebook Inc, Microsoft and Apple Inc provided the biggest lift both to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.18 percent.

Renault SA fell to a six-year low after a media report said Japan's Nissan Motor Co Ltd had accelerated secret contingency planning for a potential split from the French carmaker.

Other European automobile stocks also fell after China's top auto body reiterated predictions that sales were likely to shrink for the third consecutive year in 2020.

US government bond prices fell, with the price of the 10-year Treasury note down 4/32 to push its yield up to 1.8406 percent.

Yields on 10-year German bunds rose to -0.19 percent, while yields on the German two-year government bond hit a nine-month high ahead of the signing of the US-China trade deal.

In currency markets, the offshore Chinese yuan hit a 5-1/2-month high and the yen dropped to a 7-1/2-month low as sentiment rose on the trade outlook.

The dollar index rose 0.03 percent, with the euro up 0.13 percent to $1.1134. The yen weakened 0.44 percent versus the greenback at 109.94 per dollar.

Oil prices fell about 1 percent as Middle East tensions eased and investors turned their focus to lackluster seasonal demand following a bearish US report last week of a large increase in gasoline stocks.

Brent crude settled down 78 cents at $64.20 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude slid 96 cents to settle at $58.08 a barrel.

Gold, considered a safe haven during political and economic turmoil, rose last week to an almost seven-year peak of $1,610.90 an ounce after a US drone strike killed a top Iranian commander in Baghdad and Iran launched missiles against US troops in Iraq in retaliation.

US gold futures settled down 0.6 percent at $1,550.60 an ounce. 

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Iran crisis sparks fear over Mid East oil supplies

LONDON - The burgeoning Iran crisis has sparked oil supply worries over the Strait of Hormuz -- a vital shipping lane for a fifth of global crude -- and also over Iraq's output, analysts say.

Oil prices had surged last Friday after US President Donald Trump ordered the drone assassination of Iran's top general Qasem Soleimani, but the market stabilized on Monday and Tuesday with Middle East crude supplies unaffected.

However, on Wednesday, the oil market shifted higher once more after Tehran launched revenge attacks to target US forces in Iraq, making good on its pledge to hit back over the killing.

Iran fired missiles overnight at Iraqi bases housing the US and British military, officials in Washington and Tehran said.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab voiced concern over "reports of casualties". But Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif insisted that the country does "not seek escalation or war".

Traders remain fearful nevertheless that Tehran could seek to block the Hormuz waterway -- a key artery for crude that stretches between Oman and Iran.

Hormuz, one of the world's most congested transit points, links up the region's oil producers with markets in Asia, Europe and North America.

"Supply disruptions were put at the forefront of the agenda for investors," said Mihir Kapadia, CEO of Sun Global Investments.

"These concerns have been fuelled by Friday's killing of Soleimani and it is likely Iran will try and disrupt oil exports that travel through the Straits of Hormuz.

"However ... it remains unclear as to what the next developments will be."

The US government's Energy Information Administration describes Hormuz as "the world's most important oil transit chokepoint" through which 21 million barrels of crude per day passed in 2018.

The strait had already been rocked last year by a string of attacks that Washington and its allies blamed on Iran, accusations Tehran firmly denied.

Its Western foes have also accused Iran of being behind a major attack on Saudi oil installations and Iran has in recent months also repeatedly seized tankers operating in the Gulf.

Traders remain less fearful over the loss of Iranian oil because the Islamic republic remains under punishing US sanctions that were re-imposed by Trump in 2018.

Energy Aspects analyst Christopher Haines noted traders were instead worried about oil output from Iraq -- particularly if US troops are pulled out.

America's military strategy in Iraq was thrown into confusion Monday as the Pentagon admitted a letter from a general informing the Iraqi government of an imminent US troop pullout was sent by mistake.

"There is a potential risk of disruption on Iraq, whose crude exports represent (about) 3.5 million barrels per day," Haines told AFP.

"If US troops leave, it will leave the area less secure," he added.

Iraq is currently the second biggest player in oil cartel OPEC after kingpin Saudi Arabia.

SEB analyst Bjarne Schieldrop agreed that Iraqi production could be impacted by the current crisis -- but so far no oil supplies have been affected.

"Eventual loss of supply in the Middle East may, however, be in Iraq down the road and not so much due to near term retaliations, though so far not a single drop of oil supply has been lost," he said.

Soleimani's assassination, which was carried out by a drone near Baghdad airport, sparked concern about a spreading conflict.

Europe's benchmark oil contract Brent and US counterpart West Texas Intermediate crude had initially won more than three percent each on Friday.

However, those gains fell far short of September 16, when both contacts had rocketed about 14 percent on news of attacks on Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure.

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'Fierce revenge': Iran fires on US forces in Iraq

BAGHDAD — Iran attacked two bases in Iraq that house American troops with a barrage of missiles early Wednesday, Iranian official news media and US officials said, the start of what Tehran had promised would be retaliation for the killing of a top Iranian commander.

“The fierce revenge by the Revolutionary Guards has begun,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement on a Telegram messaging app channel.

US officials in Washington said that Iran had fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq where US troops are stationed. The Pentagon said it was assessing whether any American troops had been killed or injured in the strikes. US officials said there were no immediate indications of American casualties.

After the strikes, President Donald Trump, who has vowed a strong response to any Iranian attack on US targets, met at the White House with his top national security advisers, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss possible retaliatory options.

On Twitter, a few hours later, Trump struck an upbeat tone and promised to make a statement Wednesday morning. Some aides said they believed that Trump wanted to find a way to de-escalate the crisis.

“All is well!” he wrote. “Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far!”

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, also seemed ready to stand down, for now. “Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense,” Zarif tweeted. “We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.”

The American killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a hero at home but a terrorist to the US government, has scaled into one of the most dangerous confrontations between the countries in the 4 decades of animosity that have followed the Islamic Revolution.


Iran’s firing of ballistic missiles from inside its borders — not relying on rockets from Iranian-backed proxies — at two of the main military bases where many of the more than 5,000 US troops in Iraq are stationed was a significant escalation of force that threatened to ignite a widening conflict throughout the Middle East.

It was also a stark message from Tehran that it has the will and the ability to strike at US targets in neighboring Iraq.

“It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting US military and coalition personnel at al-Asad and Irbil,” Jonathan Hoffman, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said in a statement.

Iranian news media reported the attacks hours after Soleimani’s remains were returned to his hometown in Iran for burial amid a huge outpouring of grief and rage at the United States. The funeral procession was so huge and unwieldy that more than 50 people died in a stampede, state news media reported, forcing a delay in the burial.

Iranian officials said the attacks began at 1:20 a.m. — the time Soleimani was killed Friday by an American drone at the Baghdad International Airport.

Some Iranian officials posted images of their country’s flag on Twitter, in a pointed rejoinder to Trump, who tweeted an American flag after Soleimani was killed.

Iran’s military planners had anticipated retaliatory strikes by the United States. Key military, oil and energy sites were placed on high alert, and underground missile defense systems were prepared to counterattack, said a person familiar with the planning.

Iranian officials waited for Trump to address the nation on Tuesday night, and when he did not do so, they suspected the United States might wait to respond or not respond at all, the person said.

Two people close to the Revolutionary Guards said that if the United States did not strike, Iran would also de-escalate. But if the United States did attack, then Iran was preparing for at least a limited conflict.

Reports from US intelligence agencies of an imminent attack from Iran had intensified throughout the day, and senior officials had said they were bracing for some kind of attack against US bases in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East.

Over the past two days, US military and intelligence officials had closely monitored the movements of Iran’s ballistic force units — the crown jewel of the country’s arsenal. It was initially unclear whether the movements were a defensive dispersal or the preparations for a retaliatory attack. But by midday Tuesday, top U.S. officials said it had become clear that some kind of Iranian attack was coming.

As tensions mounted, the president’s top national security advisers began gathering in the White House Situation Room about 2 p.m. — about 3 1/2 hours before the attacks. Trump joined them after a previously scheduled meeting with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Unlike after the US drone strike that killed Soleimani last week, Democratic congressional leaders were notified immediately after the Iranian strikes.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was meeting Tuesday evening with senior Democrats about Trump’s impeachment trial when she was handed a note telling her of the Iranian attack on US forces in Iraq.

“We must ensure the safety of our service members, including ending needless provocations from the administration and demanding that Iran cease its violence,” Pelosi tweeted. “America & world cannot afford war.”

Reactions to the strikes diverged sharply on Capitol Hill, with Democrats condemning the series of events that led to the escalation, and Republicans pressing Trump to project military strength.

Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, used Twitter to urge lawmakers to reassert Congress’ constitutional authority over matters of war and peace.

“The escalation of violence between Iran and the United States makes the constitutional responsibility of Congress to decide whether to declare war more important than ever,” Durbin tweeted.

Rep. Michael Waltz, (Republican-Florida), a former Army Green Beret who served in Afghanistan and worked in the Pentagon under President George W. Bush, said in a brief interview Tuesday evening that he would reserve judgment about the strikes until more information became available. But, Waltz said, “the president’s been very clear, as you should be in a deterrence posture: They will impose consequences and they’ll be directly on the Iranian regime.”

One of the bases that was struck Tuesday, al-Asad Air Base, has long been a hub for US military operations in western Iraq. Danish troops have also been stationed there in recent years.

In 2017, as the US-led coalition built up the base for its campaign against the Islamic State, roughly 500 US military and civilian personnel were located there. Units stationed there consisted of a shock trauma medical unit, a targeting cell, a Navy SEAL Special Operations task force and with a company of Marines that served mostly as protection for the US side of the base. The airfield serviced drones and reconnaissance aircraft.

After the physical defeat of the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate in 2019, some troops have left the base, but it still maintains a robust presence.

The other base that was struck, in Irbil in northern Iraq, has been a Special Operations hub to hundreds of American and other allied troops, logistics personnel and intelligence specialists throughout the fight against the Islamic State. The base shares its borders with the city’s airport, which transport aircraft, gunships and reconnaissance planes have used as an anchor point for operations in both northern Iraq and deep into eastern Syria.

The Iranian missile attack came on a day that began with thousands of Iranians taking to the streets for Soleimani’s funeral procession, a public mourning marred by the deadly stampede.

The head of Iran’s emergency medical services said 56 people had died and 213 were injured, broadcaster IRIB reported on its website, as millions of people flooded the streets of Kerman, to witness the procession for Soleimani.

Witnesses said on social media and on the BBC’s Persian service that the street leading to the funeral was too narrow to handle the crowd and that some side streets had been closed off for security reasons, leaving those who were caught in the crush with no place to escape.

The overcrowding and the subsequent stampede in Kerman led officials to delay Soleimani’s burial, the state news media reported. But he was buried around midnight, as Iran prepared to launch missile attacks against American forces in retaliation for his death, said Hossein Soleimani, the editor-in-chief of the main Revolutionary Guards news website.

The general’s body had been flown to Kerman after a funeral service Monday in Tehran, the capital, where there were even bigger crowds. He had requested a burial in his hometown.


2020 The New York Times Company

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Biden denounces Trump on Iran in commander-in-chief moment

NEW YORK — Joe Biden on Tuesday delivered a forceful and detailed critique of the Trump administration’s escalation toward Iran as he sought at every turn to highlight his own commander-in-chief credentials and to evoke the stature of a president.

The former vice president, speaking from Pier 59 in New York against a backdrop of American flags, delivered a stern warning about President Donald Trump’s stewardship of international affairs and painted a grim picture of the dangerous landscape in the Middle East.

Biden cast Trump as a hypocrite who preaches an inward-looking foreign policy but operates using unsteady, bellicose tactics, and faulted the president for bringing the nation “dangerously close” to war after a US drone strike that killed one of Iran’s top military commanders, Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

“Because he refuses to level with the American people about the dangers which he has placed American troops and our diplomatic corps, personnel and civilians, as well as our partners and allies, or demonstrated even a modicum of presidential gravitas, I will attempt to do that,” said Biden, who is one of 14 candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. “That starts with an honest accounting of how we got where we are.”

Hours after he spoke, Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against United States military and coalition forces in Iraq, according to US military officials.

“What’s happening in Iraq and Iran today was predictable,” Biden said at a fundraiser in the Philadelphia area Tuesday night, citing the “chaos that’s ensuing” from Trump’s approach to the region. He added, “I just pray to God as he goes through what’s happening, as we speak, that he’s listening to his military commanders for the first time because so far that has not been the case.”

One of Biden’s rivals, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, opened a rally Tuesday night at a packed house in Kings Theater in Brooklyn by telling the crowd about the Iranian strikes.

“My three brothers all served in the military,” she said. “At this moment, my heart and my prayers are with our military and with their families in Iraq and all around the world.”

“But this is a reminder why we need to de-escalate tension in the Middle East,” Warren continued. “The American people do not want a war with Iran.”

The crowd thundered in approval.

All of the leading Democratic candidates have excoriated the Trump administration over its posture toward Iran. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has used the moment to highlight his long-standing anti-war credentials — and to point out, obliquely and explicitly, Biden’s vote to authorize the war in Iraq. And former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, a military veteran, has emphasized his personal experience in a war zone.

In Biden’s telling, the chaos America now confronts — “heightened threats, chants of ‘death to America’ once more echoing across the Middle East,” with Iran and its allies “vowing revenge” — was stoked by Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal that was negotiated under the Obama administration.

He described a series of subsequent provocations and challenges for which the Trump administration, he argued, was unprepared, even as he also said that he had “no illusions about Iran,” led by a government that he said threatened US interests. But the decision to kill Soleimani “may well do more to strengthen Iran’s position in the region than any of Soleimani’s plots would have ever accomplished,” he said, arguing that Trump owed the nation answers but had delivered only “tweets, threats and tantrums.”

Soleimani was designated by the United States as a terrorist, and was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US troops. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday that attacks orchestrated by Soleimani had been expected within “days,” adding that he “has the blood of hundreds of Americans, soldiers, on his hands and wounded thousands more,” and many Republicans, including some who are typically critical of Trump, said the action had made the nation safer. Democrats, too, including Biden, have said Soleimani should face justice. But other officials have questioned whether an attack was in fact imminent.

Biden said that if there was an “imminent threat” that warranted this “extraordinary action,” Americans should receive “an explanation and the facts to back it up.”

“At precisely the moment when we should be rallying our allies to stand beside us and hold the line against threats, Donald Trump’s shortsighted, ‘America First’ dogmatism has come home to roost,” Biden said. He went on to add, “We are alone now. We’re alone, and we’ll have to bear the cost of Donald Trump’s folly.”

On the campaign trail, Biden has emphasized his decades-long record in international affairs and extensive relationships abroad, highlighting a contrast with his rivals in the Democratic field, who have largely been focused on domestic matters throughout the race.

In New York, the setting appeared designed to conjure the White House briefing room: Biden spoke against a blue backdrop before a room full of reporters. He walked in to the clicking of multiple cameras and offered his own prescription for the path forward, calling for “clear-eyed, hard-nosed diplomacy grounded in a strategy that’s not about one-off decisions and one-upsmanship.”

“Mr. President,” he urged, “you have to explain your decision and your strategy to the American people. That’s your job as president, Mr. President. Not ‘Dear Leader.’ Not ‘Supreme Leader.’ Democracy runs on accountability, and nowhere is it more important than the power to make war and bring peace.”

Biden, who has faced renewed scrutiny of his foreign policy record and especially his Iraq War vote, also appeared to misspeak at times, referring to Iran when he apparently intended to say Iraq, and he appeared to say that the current perilous situation was “unavoidable,” when excerpts from the speech circulated before the appearance used the word “avoidable.”

Still, Biden’s advisers and allies hope that the gravity of the moment will further crystallize the importance of defeating Trump in the minds of voters, and polls continue to show that Democrats believe Biden has the best chance to do so, though other candidates have also polled strongly against the president in hypothetical head-to-head match ups.

The current crisis “just reinforces how high the stakes are in this election,” Biden said at a fundraiser earlier Tuesday, during which he also envisioned a Senate dynamic in which one could see “Mitch McConnell changing some ideas or being more — how can I say — mildly cooperative,” even as Biden also discussed the imperative for Democrats to win back the Senate, revoking McConnell’s title as majority leader.

He was not the only presidential candidate to castigate the Trump administration’s handling of foreign policy Tuesday.

Speaking Tuesday on ABC’s “The View,” Warren said that by killing Soleimani, Trump had “moved us close to the edge of war.”

“Soleimani was a bad guy,” she said, “but the question is, what’s the right response?”

“The job of the president of the United States is to keep America safer,” she added. “And having killed Soleimani does not make America safer.”

As evidence, Warren cited the withdrawal of US citizens from the region because of safety concerns and said Trump had tweeted “threats of war crimes” by threatening to strike cultural institutions.

“We need a president who actually has good judgment and is willing to follow through,” she said.

Pressed on whether she believed Soleimani to be a terrorist, Warren said: “Of course he is. He’s part of a group that our federal government has designated as a terrorist.”

As for how she would handle foreign policy in the Middle East, she said, “It is the responsibility of the commander in chief not to ask our military to solve problems that cannot be solved militarily.”

“The point is not whether or not Iran is a bad actor — they are,” she added. “But the question is: What are the right steps for the president? Use our diplomacy. Use the back channels. De-escalate and get Iran to the negotiating table.”


2020 The New York Times Company

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Asian shares slump; gold, oil soar after Iran strike on US forces

SHANGHAI -- Asian shares and US treasury yields plunged on Wednesday, while gold and oil shot higher after Iran fired rockets at an Iraqi airbase that hosts US military forces, stoking fears of further sharp escalations in a developing conflict.

Iran's missile attacks on the Ain Al-Asad air base and another in Erbil, Iraq, early Wednesday came hours after the funeral of an Iranian commander whose killing in a US drone strike has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

In morning trade, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.5 percent. Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.5 percent and Australian shares fell 1 percent.

US crude soared 4.42 percent to $65.47 a barrel.

"We've moved on from how Iran will respond to now anticipating the US 52-pronged response as the US military forces in the region are in a heightened state of alert while likely preparing for war," said Stephen Innes, strategist at AxiTrader. "It's not going to be pretty today"

The sharp sell-off in risk assets was accompanied by steep drops in US Treasury yields as investors flocked to safety. Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes yielded 1.7188 percent, down more than 10 basis points from a US close of 1.825 percent on Tuesday.

The two-year yield dropped to 1.4581 percent compared with a US close of 1.546 percent.

The dollar also plunged against the yen, with the Japanese currency touching its strongest point against the greenback since October. The US currency was last down 0.69 percent against the yen at 107.67.

The euro gained 0.1 percent on the day to $1.1161.

The flight to safety and a falling dollar supported gold, which rocked 1.91 percent higher on the spot market to $1,603.93 per ounce.

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Asia stocks attempt a rally as Iran anxiety ebbs

SYDNEY -- Asian shares rebounded on Tuesday as a day passed without a new escalation in the Middle East and Wall Street erased early losses to end in the black as tech stocks climbed.

Oil surrendered some hefty gains as many doubted Iran would strike back in a way that would disrupt supplies, and its own crude exports.

Brent crude futures stood at $68.91 a barrel, having been as high as $70.74 at one stage, while U.S. crude fell 32 cents to $62.95.

Gold held firm at $1,563.50, after scaling a near seven-year peak of $1,579.72 overnight.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.3%, after a 0.7% drop the previous session. Japan's Nikkei edged up 0.5% and South Korea 0.6%.

E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 held steady.

Shares had fallen sharply on Monday as Iran and the United States traded threats after an US air strike killed a top Iranian commander.

The mood calmed a little as the session passed with no new aggression.

Instead there was much confusion when the US, military wrote to Iraq on Monday saying it would pull out of the country, a letter seen by Reuters showed.

Yet US Defense Secretary Mark Esper told Pentagon reporters that no decision had been made and the military said the letter was only a poorly worded draft.

Wall Street chose to hope for the best and the Dow rose 0.24 percent, while the S&P 500 gained 0.35 percent and the Nasdaq 0.56 percent.

Surveys of service sectors out overnight showed some improvement in the United States, UK and EU, stirring speculation the closely-watched ISM measure of US services due later Tuesday will also show strength.

"We think the longest US expansion on record still has plenty of legs," said Tom Porcelli, chief US economist at RBC Capital Markets. "To be sure, Iran adds an additional layer of complexity."

"But while the risk of conflict has increased, the reality is this is likely to be limited to proxy skirmishes," he argued. "The risk of a "hot" conflict seems low as Iran is unlikely to respond in such a way that risks a significant escalation from the United States."

The calmer mood saw the yen lose much of its safe-haven gains, with the dollar bouncing to 108.37 yen from a low of 107.75 hit on Monday.

The euro edged up to $1.1195, but faces stiff chart resistance around $1.1240, while sterling made gains to $1.3170 on better economic data at home.

Against a basket of currencies, the dollar had drifted off to 97.618 but stayed above the recent six-month trough of 96.355.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

High hopes as Dubai marks one-year countdown to Expo 2020

DUBAI -- Fireworks exploded over Dubai's skyline on Sunday to mark the one-year countdown to Expo 2020, a big-budget global trade fair the glitzy emirate's rulers hope will restore its flagging fortunes.

Megastar Mariah Carey headlined at a concert underneath the illuminated Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, where thousands gathered for the centrepiece of festivities across the United Arab Emirates.

At exactly 20:20 local time, the skyscraper was lit up with "1 year to go" and "the world's greatest show" in both English and Arabic.

"These spectacular nationwide celebrations will usher in the final leg of a historic journey," said Reem Al-Hashimy, a government minister and also director general of Expo 2020. 

"The next 12 months will see us put the finishing touches to ensure an exceptional World Expo." 

Dubai hopes to attract 15 million visitors to the sprawling site taking shape on sand dunes south of the city's gleaming downtown, being built at the staggering cost of 30 billion dirhams (8.2 billion dollars).

With the city in the grips of a downturn in its vital property sector, officials are pinning high hopes on the event, the logo of which is emblazed on everything from business cards to airliners.

Some 200 countries will take part in the fair, which runs from October 20, 2020, to April 10, 2021. 

Attractions will include the UAE pavilion in the shape of a falcon in flight and a dome crafted from 800 tonnes of steel which will be the world's largest 360-degree projection surface.

Organizers say the Expo is much more than a six-month trade show.

But although experts believe the much-anticipated event will give the economy a boost, there are concerns it will be only a temporary one and that finances will slump again as soon as the show is over.

ECONOMIC HANGOVER

Since the first "World Expo" was held at the Crystal Palace in London in 1851, world fairs have been used to showcase new ideas and technology as well as serving as nation-branding exercises.

But not all have had the desired impact, with some marred by disappointing visitor figures and leaving a legacy of debt and abandoned infrastructure. 

Raed Safadi, chief adviser to Dubai Economy which is charged with guiding the emirate's financial fortunes, said Expo will add some $34.6 billion to the economy between 2013 -- when it won the bid to host the event -- and 2030. 

"It will be gross value added, directly, indirectly and induced. You come to Expo, you stay at a hotel, you go shopping, etc.," he told AFP. 

London-based Capital Economics agreed the event would provide a boost -- but said it was likely to burn out soon afterwards.

"As preparations for the Expo come to an end, activity in the construction sector is likely to weaken," it said.

Already there are concerns of huge oversupply in the property sector, driven by predictions that the trade fair will deliver some 300,000 new jobs which saw hundreds of major projects unveiled in recent years. 

Also in the spotlight is the government's goal of attracting 20 million tourists in 2020, an increase of around 20 percent from this year. 

The all-important arrivals figure has been stagnant at 16 million in recent years, and there are doubts that Expo will singlehandedly bridge that gap.

Standard and Poor's ratings agency said in September that it expected Dubai's economy to pick up with 2.4 percent growth this year, from 1.9 percent in 2018, largely due to the completion of projects related to the Expo.

But after the event packs up, growth will drop to a modest 2.0 percent through 2022, it said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Kurdish forces: Not enough guards at Syria camp holding Islamic State families

BEIRUT - Kurdish-led security forces do not have enough guards for the Ain Issa camp that holds families of Islamic State militants and dozens of them have escaped since Turkish shelling struck the area, an official with the Syrian Democratic Forces said.

Already weakened by the redeployment of forces to front lines, the guarding of the camp was further depleted on Sunday when Turkish shells crashed nearby, prompting some of the remaining personnel to flee, SDF official Marvan Qamishlo said.

"The guarding is very weak now," he told Reuters, saying that there were now just 60-70 security personnel at the camp compared with a normal level of no less than 700.

The camp holds some 12,000 displaced people including some relatives of IS militants and ideally would require 1,500 guards, he said. "We don't have this sufficient number."

Advances by Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies had compounded the concerns of security personnel in the camp, giving rise to fears the site could be encircled, Qamishlo said.

"What is a security person going to do? They are not special forces or SDF." 

(Reporting by Tom Perry Editing by Mark Heinrich)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

More than 100 killed in air strike on Yemen prison: ICRC

More than 100 people are believed to have been killed in an air strike by the Saudi-led military coalition on a detention center in Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday.

The coalition said it targeted a facility run by the Huthi rebels that "stores drones and missiles", but the rebels said the attack had leveled a building they used as a prison.

The United Nations said 52 detainees were among the dead, with a further 68 still missing.

"Casualties are most likely to increase as rescue efforts are still ongoing," it said.

The ICRC rushed to the scene in the city of Dhamar with medical teams and hundreds of body bags.

"The location that was hit has been visited by ICRC before," Franz Rauchenstein, its head of delegation for Yemen, told AFP from Dhamar. "It's a college building that has been empty and has been used as a detention facility for a while."

"What is most disturbing is that (the attack was) on a prison. To hit such a building is shocking and saddening – prisoners are protected by international law."

Rauchenstein said that over 100 people were estimated to be dead, and that at least 40 survivors were being treated for their injuries in hospitals in the city, south of the capital Sanaa.

ICRC teams collecting bodies were also "working relentlessly to find survivors under the rubble", he said, but cautioned that the chances of finding any were very slim.

Footage obtained by AFP showed heavy damage to the building and several bodies lying in the rubble, as bulldozers worked to clear away huge piles of debris.

The coalition intervened in 2015 to support the government after the Iran-aligned Huthis swept out of their northern stronghold to seize Sanaa and much of Yemen -- the Arab world's poorest nation.

Fighting since then has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and sparked what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

'STAGGERING' CASUALTIES 

The UN's humanitarian coordinator in Yemen called Sunday's air strike "horrific" and said aid groups had been forced to divert critical medical supplies, intended for treating cholera outbreak, to Dhamar hospitals.

"We have no choice," Lise Grande said. "The scale of the casualties is staggering."

Both sides stand accused of actions that could amount to war crimes.

The coalition has been blacklisted by the UN for the killing of children, while Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse the Huthis of using civilians as human shields in densely populated areas. 

Before the ICRC's comments, the coalition had insisted the strike was conducted against "a military compound which was a legitimate military target".

It said secondary explosions indicated the building was used to store weapons and that the Huthis were masking its identity by "claiming it was a secret prison".

"This is a traditional Huthi tactic and a violation of the laws of armed conflict. This site was not registered with the United Nations" and was not on the coalition's "no strike list" of sites provided by the UN and other agencies, coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki said in a statement.

The coalition said it "took all precautionary measures to protect civilians".

But Huthi television channel Al-Masirah said dozens had been killed and wounded in seven air strikes that hit the building.

"The enemy targeted prisoners on purpose in Dhamar, many of whom were preparing to be released under a prison swap deal," Huthi rebel chief Abdelmalek al-Huthi said in a televised speech on Sunday.

The UN's Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths said Sunday's deaths were a "tragedy".

"The human cost of this war is unbearable," he said. "We need it to stop. Yemenis deserve a peaceful future."

The attack in Dhamar comes weeks after a new front opened in Yemen's complex war, pitting 2 of Riyadh's allies against each other in a struggle for control of the south.

The United Arab Emirates, a key member of the coalition backing the Yemeni government, has also trained and supported secessionists who seek an independent southern Yemen. 

The southern forces last month seized control of the interim capital Aden in the south, in a see-sawing battle with government troops that has drawn warnings that the country could break apart entirely.

The government has accused the UAE of backing a "coup".

Analysts say the fight for the south is a key test for Saudi Arabia, which hopes to mediate a ceasefire so it can focus on its main mission of battling the Huthis who are aligned with its arch foe Iran.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Asia oil buyers, shippers go on alert after Saudi ship, facility attacks

SINGAPORE/TOKYO -- Asian shippers and refiners have put ships heading to the Middle East on alert and are expecting a possible rise in marine insurance premiums after recent attacks on Saudi oil tankers and pipeline facilities, industry sources said on Tuesday.

On Monday, armed drones attacked two of Saudi Aramco's oil pumping stations and forced the state producer to briefly shut its East-West pipeline, known as Petroline. The attack came two days after the sabotage of four oil tankers - two of them owned by Saudi Arabia - near the United Arab Emirates.

The attacks pushed up global oil prices by more than 1 percent on Monday, adding to rising costs for Asian refiners, who are now paying the highest premiums in years for spot cargoes in an already tight market after Washington stopped sanction waivers for Iranian oil buyers this month.

"It's a headache for North Asian refiners who are heavily reliant on Middle East oil supplies. We are currently monitoring the situation. It's an unfavorable factor for the overall crude oil market ... driving up prices," said a North Asian oil refining source, declining to be named due to company policy.

Asia gets nearly 70 percent of its crude oil from the Middle East, and any disruption to oil production, loading facilities or key shipping routes such as the Strait of Hormuz could have a severe impact on Asian economies. Oil tankers typically refuel at UAE's Fujairah port, one of the world's largest bunkering hubs, where the ship attacks occurred.

Following Sunday's attack on oil tankers, oil and shipping companies said they would have to alter their routes or take precautions near Fujairah.

"We had a ship which was refueling at Fujairah when the incident occurred. Fortunately nothing happened," said KY Lin, spokesman at Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp.

"There are no other (bunkering) choices nearby. We may choose to refuel at Singapore instead," Lin said.

Japanese shipper Nippon Yusen has already decided to refrain from sending tankers to Fujairah for bunkering, maintenance or crew swaps except for emergencies, a company spokesman said.

If its tankers need to anchor at the port, they are advised to shorten their stay as much as possible, the spokesman said.

Ashok Sharma, managing director of shipbroker BRS Baxi in Singapore said: "There seems to be no increase in risk (insurance) premia as of yet."

Risk premium increases would be inevitable, however, if security in the region continued to deteriorate, he added.

NO LOADING DISRUPTIONS SO FAR

Noriaki Sakai, an executive officer at Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd , Japan's second-largest refiner, told reporters on Wednesday that while there was no impact on oil loading or ship operations, the company is closely watching the situation.

The second set of attacks was on Saudi Arabia's Petroline, which mainly transports light crude from the kingdom's eastern fields to its western port of Yanbu.

Saudi oil exports to Asia were not disrupted because ships chartered by Asian refiners call mainly at the ports of Ras Tanura and Juaymah in the Gulf, the industry sources said.

But Petroline is important because it is an alternative route for Saudi Arabia's oil exports that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, one of the sources said.

"This attack doesn't affect physical supply, but the psychological effect is big," the source said.

The pipeline attacks "likely represent an Iranian effort to expose the vulnerabilities of oil export infrastructure that can bypass the Strait of Hormuz," analysts with risk advisor and consultancy Eurasia Group said in a note.

US security agencies believe proxies sympathetic to or working for Iran may have attacked the four tankers at Fujairah rather than Iranian forces themselves, a US official familiar with the latest US assessments said on Tuesday.

Iran has denied any involvement in the attacks.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Saudi Arabia eyes billions of dollars in entertainment investments

RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it expected billions of dollars to be pumped into a nascent state-backed entertainment sector and is eyeing dozens of Western acts, including an exhibition NBA basketball game and a Spanish-style running of the bulls.

The kingdom is trying to shake off its ultra-conservative image in a drive to keep tourist dollars at home, lure foreign visitors, create jobs for young Saudis, and improve the quality of life in a country where cinemas and public concerts were banned until recently.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has loosened social strictures, including ending a ban on women driving, curbing the powers of the religious police and easing gender segregation rules.

The government has put on Arab and Western performances, including a Black Eyed Peas concert last month, that were once unimaginable in a country where bearded religious police patrolled the streets with sticks to guard against public immorality like singing and dancing.

But the reform push has been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent, including the arrests of women's rights activists, clerics and intellectuals. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last October has also tarnished the country's image and scared off some potential investors.

At the launch of the 2019 entertainment calendar, Turki al-Sheikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), listed dozens of events the kingdom hopes to host this year, including auto races, magic shows and theatrical performances.

"I hope national companies, banks, businessmen, artists and all sectors put their hands together. There are golden opportunities," he told an audience that included princes, ministers, Arab celebrities and a few Muslim clerics.

"This is a big door for tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of jobs and for tens of billions if not hundreds of billions" of riyals, he added.

Al-Sheikh said the kingdom aims to become among the top 10 global entertainment destinations and in the top four in Asia, but provided no timeline and few concrete figures for his targets.

Officials have previously said that reforms aim to capture up to a quarter of the $20 billion currently spent overseas every year by Saudis seeking entertainment.

Last year, GEA said infrastructure investments over the next decade would reach 240 billion riyals ($64 billion) that would contribute 18 billion riyals to annual gross domestic product and generate 224,000 new jobs by 2030.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Saudi Arabia names businessman as labor minister

RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia on Saturday named a prominent businessman as labor minister in a move welcomed by the private sector, as the kingdom seeks to diversify the economy away from oil and create jobs for an overwhelmingly young population.

King Salman also issued royal orders setting up state bodies to promote culture and protect the environment, and appointed a cleric known for moderate views to lead the Islamic affairs portfolio at a time when the deeply conservative Muslim country is easing social restrictions and promoting entertainment.

Private sector businessman Ahmed bin Suleiman al-Rajhi was named minister of labor and social development, according to the royal orders published on state media.

Getting hundreds of thousands of unemployed Saudis into the workforce is a major challenge for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MbS, who oversees economic policy for the world’s top oil exporter, where unemployment stands at 12.8 percent.

The kingdom, which has struggled for years to create jobs for its nationals, aims to create 1.2 million jobs by 2022 to reduce unemployment to 9 percent, a senior labour ministry official has told Reuters.

The selection of Rajhi, who chairs the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and is the scion of an Islamic banker billionaire, follows a broader trend of tapping the private sector to fill top government posts, including the housing, water and agriculture ministers, and a senior defense official.

Last year sources told Reuters that Rajhi was among a delegation of 10 businessmen representing the private sector who met MbS to discuss how the sector had been hit by austerity measures designed to cut the budget deficit and rising fees for employing foreigners, which are encouraging an exodus of expats.

"Some of the labor ministry's programs have been taken in isolation from the private sector which adversely affected their effectiveness," said prominent Saudi economist Fadl Alboainain.

Economists said Rajhi, the third minister to hold the labor portfolio since 2015, is expected to create a more friendly business environment, enhance public-private sector communication and help support small and medium enterprises.

"This is the best news we have heard over the past few years, we are very optimistic," said one Saudi businessman of Rajhi's appointment, speaking on condition of anonymity.

MODERNIZATION DRIVE

King Salman also appointed Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Al-Sheikh, a cleric known for his moderate views, as minister of Islamic affairs, call and guidance.

Al-Sheikh - who once headed the kingdom's religious police, whose powers were curbed 2 years ago - has previously voiced support for female employment and gender mixing.

MbS has promised to promote a more moderate form of Islam under efforts to modernize the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, including the recent lifting of a ban on cinemas and the lifting later this month of a ban on women driving.

The royal orders also set up a Ministry of Culture, extracting it from the information ministry, as part of a move to capture more Saudi leisure spending at home.

Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud, who was appointed in April to the board of a newly-established General Culture Authority, was named culture minister.

Prince Bader, 33, has risen quickly within the government and already holds several top positions, including governor of a royal commission tasked with developing a historic tourism destination in the country's north.

The Saudi Research and Marketing Group, which is closely linked to King Salman’s branch of the royal family, announced his resignation as chairman hours after his new appointment.

King Salman also ordered royal commissions for the environment and the holy city of Mecca, and an administration for preserving historical areas in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Maps tweeted by state media showed that 6 nature reserves established by the orders - "to reestablish wildlife, enhance their development and promote eco-tourism" - covered some 265,000 square kilometers of territory.

One of the sites is named for the king and another, located between the proposed NEOM business zone and a Red Sea tourism project, for the crown prince.

The royal orders named several new deputies in the ministries of interior, telecommunications, transport and energy, industry and minerals, and appointed new heads to the royal commission for Jubail and Yanbu and the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Israel says it attacked targets in Syria after Iranian rocket fire

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT—Israel said it attacked nearly all of Iran's military infrastructure in Syria on Thursday after Iranian forces fired rockets at Israeli-held territory for the first time.

It was the heaviest Israeli barrage in Syria since the start in 2011 of its war, in which Iranians, allied Shi'ite Muslim militias and Russian troops have deployed in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian Army Command said Israel's attack killed three people and injured two others. A Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the strikes killed at least 23 military personnel, including Syrians and non-Syrians.

Expectations of a regional flare-up, amid warnings from Israel that it was determined to prevent any Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, were stoked by U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement on Tuesday that he was withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The Trump administration portrayed its rejection of that agreement as a response, in part, to Iran's military interventions in the Middle East, underpinning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tough line towards Tehran.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the Iranian rockets either fell short of their targets - military bases in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - or were intercepted.

The Golan attack was "just further demonstration that the Iranian regime cannot be trusted and another good reminder that the president made the right decision to get out of the Iran deal", White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News.

Israel said 20 Iranian Grad and Fajr rockets were shot down by its Iron Dome air defense system or did not reach targets in the Golan, territory Israel captured from Syria in a 1967 war.

The Quds Force, an external arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, carried out the rocket salvo, Israel said.

Syrian state media said Israel launched dozens of missiles and hit a radar station, Syrian air defense positions and an ammunition dump, underscoring the risks of a wider escalation involving Iran and its regional allies.

The foreign ministry said the attack indicated "the start of a new phase of aggression" against Damascus.

Russia's defense ministry said Syria had shot down more than half of the missiles fired by Israel, RIA news agency reported.

"We hit ... almost all of the Iranian infrastructure in Syria," Lieberman said, in a question and answer session at the annual Herzliya security conference in Tel Aviv. "I hope we finished this chapter and everyone got the message."

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus told reporters the Iranian attack was "commanded and ordered by (Quds Force chief General) Qassem Soleimani and it has not achieved its purpose".

Conricus said Israel responded by destroying dozens of Iranian military sites in Syria, as well as Syrian anti-aircraft units that tried unsuccessfully to shoot down Israeli planes.

"We do not know yet the (Iranian) casualty count," he said.

"But I can say that in terms of our purpose, we focused less on personnel and more on capabilities and hardware...to inflict long-term damage on the Iranian military establishment in Syria. We assess it will take substantial time to replenish."

There was no immediate comment from Iran.

In the Golan, Israeli schools opened as usual on Thursday morning after sirens sent residents to shelters overnight.

Lieberman said Israel was not seeking escalation on the Syrian front. But Tzachi Hanegbi, a cabinet minister close to Netanyahu, cautioned that more confrontation could come.

"I don't think I can tell you that one blow, as effective and crushing as the one they (the Iranians) received last night, is enough to convince a regime that is usually very fanatical and determined," he said on Israel Radio.

NEW FRONT

The Israelis fear that Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah are turning Syria into a new front against them. Israel says its occasional strikes in Syria aim to foil such an outcome.

Iran vowed retaliation after a suspected Israeli air strike last month killed seven of its military personnel at a Syrian air base.

Israel regards Iran as its biggest threat and has repeatedly targeted Iranian forces and allied militia in Syria.

On Tuesday, hours after Trump's announcement on the nuclear deal, Israeli rockets struck a military base in Kisweh, a commander in the pro-Syrian government regional alliance said.

That attack killed 15 people, including eight Iranians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, though the commander said there were no casualties. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

Thursday's conflagration came hours after Netanyahu returned from a visit to Moscow, where he discussed concerns about Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia, like Iran, fights in Syria on the side of the Assad government.

Netanyahu said after the discussions Russia was unlikely to limit Israel's armed actions in Syria. The Israeli military said Israel had forewarned Russia of its strikes on Thursday.

"There should be work to de-escalate the tensions," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying on Thursday by the Tass news agency. He called the situation "very alarming".

French President Emmanuel Macron also appealed for calm. (Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Dahlia Nehme and Tom Perry and Ellen Francis in Beirut; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Angus McDowall; Editing by Tom Perry and Mark Heinrich)

source: news.abs-cbn.com