Eid Mubarak to those who are celebrating!
INTERNATIONAL
In today’s global news:
Worldometer is tracking COVID-19 cases and fatalities.
The New York Times is tracking global vaccine distribution.
MIDDLE EAST
SYRIA
A monitoring group called the Daraa Martyrs’ Documentation Office says it catalogued more than 50 killings in Syria’s Daraa province in the month of April. Among the victims were 20 Syrian soldiers or government-aligned paramilitaries while another 31 were civilians or ex-rebels who’d received amnesty from the Syrian government. Daraa was home to the initial 2011 protests that eventually escalated into civil war and violence there has continued, albeit at a fairly low level, since the Syrian government regained control of the province in 2018. But if these numbers are accurate, and I can’t speak to the nature of the source so I don’t know how much credence to give them, it suggests the violence may be escalating for some reason.