Ali is squatting with 15 other family members in an abandoned residential building. It’s one of numerous empty houses in west Beirut that he helped appropriate with the co-ordination of other neighbourhood volunteers.
Technically, breaking into and forcibly squatting in empty buildings without their owners' permission is illegal. But practically, nearly 500,000 people displaced by Israel’s extensive aerial bombardment of south Lebanon and other parts of the country need shelter.
“People were sleeping on the beach or under bridges yesterday,” Ali told The National, speaking under a pseudonym to avoid legal repercussions. “Wherever we find an apartment or building that’s empty, we open it. It’s as simple as that. We try to get mattresses, food and water to people.”
Lebanon’s government on Monday ordered numerous schools throughout the country to shelter people displaced by the intense Israeli raids. By Tuesday morning most of the schools were filled beyond capacity, with many people still seeking shelter.
The state has been able to do little more to address the refugee crisis, leaving municipalities and grassroots co-ordination groups -- sometimes backed by politically-affiliated gangs -- to grapple with the challenges. When The National asked Ali why he resorted to vigilantism rather than allowing the Lebanese government to take control, he scoffed.
“The state? It’s on vacation,” he said. "When there's a war the state disappears. When the war ends it comes back to enforce the law."
By Wednesday, displaced families in Beirut and the surrounding mountain villages still peppered roadsides as they tried to find housing. People crammed eight or 10 to a car were parked on winding mountain streets after being rejected from shelters, attempting to find alternatives.
When Israel’s assault on what it said were “Hezbollah sites” began on Monday – killing more than 558 people in two days – Ali moved his siblings and their family members to Spears Street in west Beirut, where he grew up, worked, and maintained a connection. He immediately joined an impromptu committee of volunteers helping to find housing for other displaced people.
They did so in the absence of co-ordination from the paralysed Lebanese state.
'Necessary vigilantism'
It may be a form of vigilantism, but “it’s necessary,” Ali said. He is also a member of the Amal Movement, a political party and militia that holds considerable influence in Spears and some of the surrounding neighbourhoods.
“We’re co-ordinating housing on our own, not on the orders of the party. We’re just an independent group of neighbourhood volunteers who want to help our countrymen,” he clarified. “But you could say we have the party’s cover, too.”
Like most of fragmented Lebanon’s major political parties, the Amal Movement is both embedded into the country’s crumbling governance and a feudal entity that feeds off local clientalism. Political strife, 15 years of civil war (1975-1990), and severe economic troubles have over several decades gradually rendered the state’s central power impotent while empowering the patronage of militias-turned-political parties. Currently, the state operates with no president, no functioning parliament and only a caretaker government at the helm.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah – the most powerful of Lebanon’s militias – is embroiled in a major war with Israel that has sparked fears of a potential ground invasion.
Lebanon’s central power has become so eroded over time that most citizens have no expectations for it, automatically deferring to political patrons and local councils controlling their areas. Ali said he had helped “open” apartments in about 12 multi-storey buildings in Spears and the surrounding area in the three days since Israel’s assault on parts of Lebanon began.
Displaced families sheltering in the neighbourhood now rely on donations from nearby residents. When he is not helping people squat in empty apartments, Ali and the other local men co-ordinate donations of food, water, mattresses and other essentials.
His group is only one of many spontaneously formed co-ordinating committees in neighbourhoods, villages and municipalities that are sheltering people throughout Lebanon, particularly in Beirut and the surrounding mountain villages.
'We're on our own here'
In the suburb of Choueifat, to the south of Beirut, about 1,400 people are sheltering in all eight of the village’s public schools – each of them at maximum capacity.
“We only have 800 mattresses,” said the municipality’s mayor, Nidal Jourdi. The cost of 200 of the mattresses came from his own pocket, in addition to the cost of food and water for several shelters. Non-governmental organisations and other individual donors from the village were also contributing what they could.
“We still need almost a thousand of everything, from mattresses to blankets and pillows,” he stressed. “We’re getting by on food and water through donations. For now.”
Another high-level municipal employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was unsure how the municipality would be able to continue sheltering people if the violence dragged on in the southern half of the country.
“In the rest of the world, countries have crisis and disaster ministries, with real emergency planning. We have none of that in Lebanon,” he told The National. “We need state institutions to help us because this isn’t ending any time soon.”
While the country’s municipalities are technically under the mandate of the Ministry of Interior, the employee said they have essentially been left to their own devices: “We’re on our own here.”
In the nearby village of Ain Anoub on Tuesday, one of the public schools was preparing to accommodate the overflow of refugees from Choueifat and other nearby villages such as Bchamoun.
A committee made up of the school’s principal, a municipal employee, and representatives from the two rival Druze militias-turned-political parties who hold sway over the village were all hurriedly attempting to organise bedding and essentials before people's arrival.
Within minutes, around eight displaced families were on the school’s doorstep.
'Nowhere to go'
People with extra space in their homes have also welcomed relatives and strangers alike.
Seventeen relatives were staying in Em Elias’s two-bedroom home in Choueifat on Tuesday after they fled the Israeli onslaught on their southern Lebanese village, Nabatiyeh.
Em Elias immediately opened her home to her siblings and their families “even though we don’t have nearly enough rooms or mattresses”, she said. “My house is usually just enough for me, my son and my daughter.”
Two of her siblings are still trapped in their villages in south Lebanon, surrounded by bombing. The rest – along with their families – eventually made it to her house after an arduous overnight trip.
“We didn’t have time to bring anything,” her sister Zainab said. “It was all I could do to grab the kids and leave. I got here wearing mismatched slippers. We can’t stay here because it’s too much for my sister. At the same time, we have nowhere else to go.”
Back in west Beirut, Ali was still co-ordinating his neighbourhood’s response. Even during the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Ali said the task of sheltering the displaced fell to politically-affiliated groups and spontaneously formed co-ordinating committees. The distinction between the two is often a blur.
“Last time they [the government] slapped me with 10 breaking-and-entering charges for sheltering people wherever we could find a place for them. But where was the state? At least we were helping.”
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
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The years Ramadan fell in May
How Filipinos in the UAE invest
A recent survey of 10,000 Filipino expatriates in the UAE found that 82 per cent have plans to invest, primarily in property. This is significantly higher than the 2014 poll showing only two out of 10 Filipinos planned to invest.
Fifty-five percent said they plan to invest in property, according to the poll conducted by the New Perspective Media Group, organiser of the Philippine Property and Investment Exhibition. Acquiring a franchised business or starting up a small business was preferred by 25 per cent and 15 per cent said they will invest in mutual funds. The rest said they are keen to invest in insurance (3 per cent) and gold (2 per cent).
Of the 5,500 respondents who preferred property as their primary investment, 54 per cent said they plan to make the purchase within the next year. Manila was the top location, preferred by 53 per cent.
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The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
MATCH INFO
Bayern Munich 2 Borussia Monchengladbach 1
Bayern: Zirkzee (26'), Goretzka (86')
Gladbach: Pavard (37' og)
Man of the Match: Breel Embolo (Borussia Monchengladbach)
The full list of 2020 Brit Award nominees (winners in bold):
British group
Coldplay
Foals
Bring me the Horizon
D-Block Europe
Bastille
British Female
Mabel
Freya Ridings
FKA Twigs
Charli xcx
Mahalia
British male
Harry Styles
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Michael Kiwanuka
Stormzy
Best new artist
Aitch
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Mabel
Sam Fender
Best song
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber - I Don’t Care
Mabel - Don’t Call Me Up
Calvin Harrison and Rag’n’Bone Man - Giant
Dave - Location
Mark Ronson feat. Miley Cyrus - Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
AJ Tracey - Ladbroke Grove
Lewis Capaldi - Someone you Loved
Tom Walker - Just You and I
Sam Smith and Normani - Dancing with a Stranger
Stormzy - Vossi Bop
International female
Ariana Grande
Billie Eilish
Camila Cabello
Lana Del Rey
Lizzo
International male
Bruce Springsteen
Burna Boy
Tyler, The Creator
Dermot Kennedy
Post Malone
Best album
Stormzy - Heavy is the Head
Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
Lewis Capaldi - Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent
Dave - Psychodrama
Harry Styles - Fine Line
Rising star
Celeste
Joy Crookes
beabadoobee
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat
Barbara J King, University of Chicago Press
Zayed Sustainability Prize
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
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Wicked: For Good
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Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
