Coronavirus outbreaks among Iranian-backed militias | IRGC-backed commander and his group quarantined in Al-Mayadeen
Deir Ezzor Province – Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: SOHR sources have reported that coronavirus outbreaks rapidly among Iranian-backed militiamen in Al-Mayadeen city in Deir Ezzor countryside, as hospitals in the regions have reached their full operational capacity and became unable to receive more infections. In this context, a medical source in Al-Maydeen city has informed SOHR that a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and his group which comprises eight militiamen have been quarantined in the recently-prepared section in the industrial high school in the city.
According to SOHR sources, the commander is Iraqi and he is the leader of the western sector, who is in charge of the protection of Ain Ali shrine in Al-Mayadeen city.
On April 13, reliable sources informed SOHR that the Ministry of Health of the Syrian regime launched large-scale campaigns for sterilizing Shiite sites in Al-Mayadeen city in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. The campaign covered the following sites:
- Ain Ali shrine
- The surrounding rest houses built recently by “Al-Waqf Al-Shi’i” for the Shiite visitors
- The mosque in Al-Tamou neighbourhood, which was turned by the Iranian-backed militias into a “hosayniya”, a congregation hall for Twelver Shia Muslim commemoration ceremonies, for their proxy militiamen in Al-Mayadeen city.
This development coincided with the Syrian regime’s disregard of sterilization of schools, universities and vital institutions, in light of the spread of COVID-19 infections throughout regime-held areas.
While on April 6, a medical source in “Fatema Al-Zahraa” hospital, specified for the Iranian-backed militiamen in Al-Mayadeen city in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, informed SOHR that the hospital was unable to receive any new Iranian-backed militiamen infected with COVID-19, as the number of infections in the section allocated to coronavirus cases reached 65 in just a few days. According to SOHR sources, preparations were underway to open a new section for receiving COVID-19 infections in the industrial high school near that hospital, where new cases would be quarantined.