Syrian air defences thwarted a reported Israeli missile attack on suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus late on Tuesday, Syrian state television reported.
Syrian state TV frequently makes such statements after Israeli attacks. In the absence of independent verification, reports are often difficult to confirm.
In this instance however, smartphone footage filmed on Tuesday night appeared to show an explosive collision in the night sky, preceded by the fiery glow of a missile exhaust.
Blazing fragments could be seen falling to earth after the blast.
Footage of the incident captured on three camera phones was analysed by security intelligence analysis company Aurora Intel, who published preliminary analysis on Twitter.
This appeared to confirm that at least one Israeli missile was intercepted.
"At exactly 22.35pm today, the Israeli enemy carried out an aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan against some targets in the vicinity of Damascus. Our air defences intercepted the aggression's missiles and downed most of them. Losses were limited to materials," the Syrian defence ministry said on Twitter.
It gave no further details, such as which suburbs had come under attack.
They were the first attacks since February 28, when Israeli missiles hit the southern suburbs of Damascus.
Israel views Iranian entrenchment on its northern frontier as a red line, and it has repeatedly struck Iran-linked facilities and weapons convoys destined for Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said on Tuesday that Israel does not comment on foreign reports.
Israel repeatedly said it aims to prevent Iran, which backs the Syrian regime, from gaining a foot-hold in Syria.
The war in Syria is in its 11th year. The latest UN figures, which date back to 2016, place the death toll at 400,000. The war drove millions of refugees into Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon – and internally displaced millions more.
President Bashar Al Assad and his wife, who last week contracted coronavirus, ordered a third stimulus package to combat the effect that the war and the pandemic have inflicted on his country's economy, taking the Syrian pound at 4,000 to the dollar on the black market, compared with 700 a year ago. The official rate for the dollar is fixed at 1,256 Syrian pounds for $1.
The first shipment of Covid-19 vaccines arrived on March 1 from a friendly nation, which the Syrian government did not name. Russia previously said it would send batches of the Sputnik V vaccine to Syria.
Syrians living in the north-west of the country, the last opposition strong-hold, told The National they would refuse a Russian-made vaccine.
The World Health Organisation said Covid-19 cases exceed 16,500 and the death toll is 1,104, although the exact figures are difficult to ascertain because of the disparity in health authorities, or lack thereof, in the different parts of the country.
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Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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