When Father Ammar Altony Yako set foot in Qaraqosh for the first time since ISIS overran his home town in 2014, he rushed to the priests’ house in the hope that the extremist group had not destroyed everything.
"It was a mess inside. All the documents, like marriage contracts, scattered on the ground," Father Yako told The National over the phone from Qaraqosh of his 2016 return to the town.
"I rushed upstairs when I remembered that the old manuscripts were stored in one of the rooms,” he said.
“They were in a very bad state."
The ISIS militants had "removed them from the shelves, took them out of their boxes and spread them on the ground with some torn out”, he said.
Among them was a gem: an Aramaic prayer book that is at least 500 years old, known as a Sidra in Syriac.
When ISIS militants took over the city of Mosul, they headed east to capture the towns and villages of the religiously-mixed Nineveh Plain, forcing at least 120,000 Christians from their ancestral homeland. At one point they controlled almost a third of Iraq’s territory.
For more than three years, the extremists wreaked havoc in the areas under their control. They persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, demolished places of worship, heritage and archaeological sites and artefacts they considered to be heretical.
Father Yako is haunted by the images of destruction he saw in Qaraqosh, the biggest Christian town in Nineveh Plain.
“Qaraqosh was eerily empty,” he said. “The scenes were painful, the devastation was massive, every beautiful thing in the town was either burned down or damaged.”
With the help of the army and Christian paramilitary troops, he gathered the nearly 100 manuscripts and took them to the nearby city of Erbil, the capital of the northern Kurdish region.
As Christian families began to trickle back when reconstruction began in 2017, the rescued manuscripts returned to Qaraqosh. An Italian NGO offered to help restore the damaged texts.
“I picked [the Sidra] because it was heavily damaged [and] contains details, mainly prayers for the whole year, that give it a religious value,” Father Yako said.
Returned to Qaraqosh
The 116-page book once belonged to Great Al Tahira Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Qaraqosh, the largest Syriac-Catholic church in the Middle East.
The prayers and hymns are written in two columns in beautiful calligraphy, with colourful illustrations on some pages. Its wooden cover was broken.
The writer did not not enter their name or the year the book was written, but it has been said to have been written sometime in the 14th or 15th century.
The book was sent to Italy in 2018 where it underwent a thorough restoration process overseen by the Central Institute for the Conservation of Books (ICPAL) in Rome and funded by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage.
In 2019 it was displayed at an international book fair in Italy where it was dubbed the “Refugee Book” as a silent witness to the the persecution Christians endured in Iraq.
It was supposed to return to its land of origin in 2020, but Covid-19 travel restrictions delayed the process.
Last month, the book was presented to Pope Francis to return during his four-day visit Iraq starting on Friday, which includes a stop in Qaraqosh.
“Today we are happy to return it symbolically into the hands of His Holiness to return it to its home, to its Church in that tormented land, as a sign of peace, of brotherhood,” Ivana Borsotto, the leader of the Federation of Christian Organisations in International Voluntary Service, was quoted by the Catholic News Agency as telling the pontiff.
Ms Borsotto added that although the final pages of the manuscript remain badly damaged, the prayers it contains “will continue to mark the liturgical year in Aramaic and still be sung by the people of the Nineveh Plains, reminding everyone that another future is still possible.”
Father Yako hopes that the success story of the “refugee book” will lead to restoring other damaged manuscripts.
“This is our heritage, history and civilisation that our ancestors left to us and that we have to protect. We have to consider it as a jewel so that we can leave it to our sons,” he said.
“Without heritage and culture there will be no future."
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
ON%20TRACK
%3Cp%3EThe%20Dubai%20Metaverse%20Assembly%20will%20host%20three%20main%20tracks%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEducate%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Consists%20of%20more%20than%2010%20in-depth%20sessions%20on%20the%20metaverse%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInspire%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Will%20showcase%20use%20cases%20of%20the%20metaverse%20in%20tourism%2C%20logistics%2C%20retail%2C%20education%20and%20health%20care%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EContribute%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Workshops%20for%20metaverse%20foresight%20and%20use-case%20reviews%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Messi 23' pen, 45 1', 48', Busquets 85')
Celta Vigo 1 (Olaza 42')
Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Keita 5', Firmino 26'
Porto 0
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Age: 32
Qualifications: Diploma in engineering from TSI Technical Institute, bachelor’s degree in accounting from Dubai’s Al Ghurair University, master’s degree in human resources from Abu Dhabi University, currently third years PHD in strategy of human resources.
Favourite mountain range: The Himalayas
Favourite experience: Two months trekking in Alaska
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4pm Al Bastakiya – Listed (TB) $150,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
4.35pm Dubai City Of Gold – Group 2 (TB) $228,000 (Turf) 2,410m
5.10pm Mahab Al Shimaal – Group 3 (TB) $228,000 (D) 1,200m
5.45pm Burj Nahaar – Group 3 (TB) $228,000 (D) 1,600m
6.20pm Jebel Hatta – Group 1 (TB) $260,000 (T) 1,800m
6.55pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 – Group 1 (TB) $390,000 (D) 2,000m
7.30pm Nad Al Sheba – Group 3 (TB) $228,000 (T) 1,200m
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained
Defined Benefit Plan (DB)
A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.
Defined Contribution Plan (DC)
A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN MARITIME DISPUTE
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
Match info:
Leicester City 1
Ghezzal (63')
Liverpool 2
Mane (10'), Firmino (45')
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Top New Zealand cop on policing the virtual world
New Zealand police began closer scrutiny of social media and online communities after the attacks on two mosques in March, the country's top officer said.
The killing of 51 people in Christchurch and wounding of more than 40 others shocked the world. Brenton Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, was accused of the killings. His trial is ongoing and he denies the charges.
Mike Bush, commissioner of New Zealand Police, said officers looked closely at how they monitored social media in the wake of the tragedy to see if lessons could be learned.
“We decided that it was fit for purpose but we need to deepen it in terms of community relationships, extending them not only with the traditional community but the virtual one as well," he told The National.
"We want to get ahead of attacks like we suffered in New Zealand so we have to challenge ourselves to be better."
Armies of Sand
By Kenneth Pollack (Oxford University Press)
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Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
The Voice of Hind Rajab
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
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LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
