New York Creates Coronavirus Containment Zone, Plans To Deploy National Guard

New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that the state will create a containment zone in New Rochelle where the largest cluster of cases of COVID-19 are concentrated. There are currently 108 confirmed cases in the New York City suburb.

“The largest cluster of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country is located in New Rochelle, and as the numbers continue to go up we need a special public health strategy to contain it,” Cuomo said. “We are moving from containment to mitigation, and because much of the transmission of this disease tends to happen on a geographic basis, we are attacking this hotspot at the source.”

The state will open a temporary testing facility and deploy the national guard to support containment efforts by delivering food to households and disinfect the area. The containment will begin March 12 and is set to conclude on March 25.

“It is a dramatic action but it is the largest cluster in the country and this is literally a matter of life and death,” the governor added.

https://saraacarter.com/new-york-creates-coronavirus-containment-zone-plans-to-deploy-national-guard/

US Forces Are ‘In Process’ Of Deploying Air Defense Systems To Iraq: Central Command

The US is in the process of deploying air defense systems to Iraq to protect US troops in case of a potential Iranian attack, the head of U.S. Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie said on March 10.

“We are also in the process of bringing air defense systems, ballistic missile defense systems, into Iraq in particular, to protect ourselves against another potential Iranian attack,” General McKenzie said.

Earlier in 2020, the Pentagon announced that it was planning to get an Iraqi permission to deploy Patriot missile defenses into the country to better defend US forces.

The US military buildup followed a military escalation with Iran in the region. On January 3, a US strike assassinated Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Qods Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units in Bahdad. In response to this act of the agression, Iran carried out a missile attack on US military bases in Iraq on January 8. After this, the US military continue its military buildup in the region with an increasing scale.

https://southfront.org/us-forces-are-in-process-of-deploying-air-defense-systems-to-iraq-central-command/

FEMA Seeking Contractors to Deliver Portable Toilets, Showers Within 24 Hours Notice as Coronavirus Spreads

The U.S. government's disaster response agency placed an urgent request last week seeking contractors who can deliver portable toilets, showers, and hand-washing stations throughout the United States within 24 hours notice, a potential sign of how the administration could be preparing to respond to a coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was looking for vendors who are able to provide "portable facilities, to include toilets, showers, and handwash stations during a FEMA disaster response to all U.S. state, local, tribal, and territorial government locations," according to a "sources sought notice" the agency posted on the federal public solicitation database on March 3.

Federal agencies publish "sources sought notices" to collect information on potential vendors in a market and they often precede a formal solicitation notice for contractors. Responses were requested by March 26, 2020.

A spokeswoman for FEMA told the Washington Free Beacon that it is "promoting preparedness activities" related to the global spread of coronavirus, which topped 800 confirmed cases in the United States on Tuesday. The agency declined to say directly whether the vendor notice was part of this response effort.

"The federal government is taking aggressive and proactive steps to mitigate the spread and effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19)," said FEMA spokeswoman Janet Montesi. "Consistent with its mission, FEMA has also been promoting preparedness activities and is currently a supporting agency to HHS delivering crisis action planning, situational awareness, reporting, interagency coordination, course of action development, and logistics supply chain analysis through a Crisis Action Task Force located at the HHS Secretary’s Operations Center."

The spread of the virus has prompted mandatory quarantines in New York and other states. New York governor Andrew Cuomo also announced the formation of a one-mile containment zone in Westchester County this week.

Contractors "must be able to deliver to designated disaster locations within the appointed time period, typically 24 hours after award, to any location within the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii to the U.S. Territories," according to the notice.

The handwashing stations "must be available to meet the health and sanitation needs of the shelter population" and "should be located near toilet areas and equipped with soap, disposable towels, and warm water if possible."

The posting also stressed that vendors must be able to deliver the products quickly, within 24 hours of government approval.

"Do you have prior experiences in providing such services with short turn-around requests? Please describe the experience and how it worked out," said the notice.

The federal government has been stocking up on face masks and hand sanitizer since February in response to the coronavirus threat, according to reports.

The National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group, warned the federal government to be aware that emergency situations can often provide an opening for corruption in the procurement process.

"Oftentimes the government must take forceful and extensive measures in a crisis," said Tom Anderson, director of the National Legal and Policy Center’s Government Integrity Project. "While this is necessary it also invites possible corruption and corner-cutting. I hope the proper safeguards are in place for this and future endeavors our government is taking on in order to battle the Covid-19 outbreak."

Italy enacted a nationwide mandatory quarantine on Tuesday as confirmed coronavirus cases in the country exceeded 9,000. People are prohibited from traveling outside their homes for reasons other than work or emergencies.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/fema-seeking-contractors-to-deliver-portable-toilets-showers-within-24-hours-notice-as-coronavirus-spreads/

Al-Qaeda Prepares For Another Rebranding In Idlib. Turkey Threatens Syria With Military Agression And Makes More Victorious Statements

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda), the Turkistan Islamic Party (al-Qaeda-linked group), Horas al-Din (another al-Qaeda-linked group), the National Front for Liberation (a group of Turkish proxies friendly to al-Qaeda) and other ‘democratic rebels’ are planning to create a new coalition in the Syrian region of Idlib.

The idea is to make a rebranding and in order to hide the terrorist nature of these organizations. So, Turkey would be able to claim that it fulfils with the de-escalation and de-militarization agreements reached with Russia and Iran, and continue declaring that there are no ‘terrorists’ in Idlib.

Earlier, several Idlib al-Qaeda-linked groups employed similar measures in an attempt to allow mainstream media propagandists and foreign countries to continue a public support to them. For example, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham previously was known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra. All these attempts failed becuase terrorists, even if they change their flag and create a new logo, remain terrorists

These efforts signal that Anakra fully udnerstands what ‘moderate groups’ it supports in Idlib and are fiercely trying to do something with this problem ahead of the implementation of the creation of the demilitarized zone along the M4 highway. Joint Russian-Turkish patrols are set to start in the area on March 15 and it’s hard to imagine how Russian troops could safely apepar near such stronghold of al-Qaeda as Jisr al-Shughur.

On the other hand, Turkey is not planning to drop its agressive actions against Syria. On March 10, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu once again threatened the Damascus government with a military action (probably he forgot how the previous attempt ended) and confirmed that the joint patrols with the Russians will soon be launched. According to Cavusoglu, the first patrol will becarried from the settlement of Trumba – 2 km west of Saraqib – to the settlement of Ain al-Havr.

Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined Turkish state media and other propaganda organizations in their fierce battle against the real outcome of Operation Spring Shield. On March 10, President Erdogan said that Turkey had destroyed 8 Russian-made air defense systems in Syria during the operation.

“In Idlib, we destroyed eight Pantsir with the help of our combat drones. These are very expensive and important air defense systems,” NTV television quoted the President as saying. Erdogan added that Pantsir systems are also “deployed in Libya.” (comment: they are used by the Libyan National Army)

According to Turkish Defense Ministry reports, as of March 6, Turkish forces destroyed 8 air defense systems belonging to the Syrian Air Defense Forces. Then, this number included not only Pantsir systems, but also some Buk air defense systems and hardware of other type. Should we discard claims about the destroyed non-Patnsirs or the number of destroyed equipment just grew after the start of the ceasefire?

https://southfront.org/al-qaeda-prepares-for-another-rebranding-in-idlib-turkey-threatens-syria-with-military-agression-and-makes-more-victorious-statements/