In Syria, 2018 was the year the final embers of revolution against Bashar Al Assad were extinguished.
With the backing of Moscow and Tehran, the regime clawed back more territory from a faltering and disorganised rebellion, secured Damascus, and won a crucial diplomatic victory in the form of normalisation by Arab governments.
It was handed another pivotal win by Donald Trump, who last month cast aside by tweet his own administration’s carefully laid plans to build up the US presence in eastern Syria as a counterweight to Iran and to bolster western leverage in peace talks. The US would retreat from the region, leaving Russia, Turkey and Iran to sort out the shape of a final settlement, Mr Trump said.
But let’s back up for a minute and look at some of the key events that shaped the conflict, now nearing its eighth year.
In April, Mr Al Assad's forces wrested control of the Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta after a punishing siege, more than 2,000 casualties, and a campaign targeting rescue workers and medical facilities. The regime capped the months-long bombardment with a chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians in Douma, provoking western airstrikes that meted out little real punishment.
Thousands were exiled to Idlib, in the north, which remained the sole province under rebel control by year’s end. Thousands of others chose to stay and reconcile with the government.
That victory secured Damascus from rebel attacks, a feat solidified by another swift campaign from mid-June to late July that reclaimed Daraa, the birthplace of the uprising in March 2011. The southern province fell with ease in the face of the Russian-backed assault, dealing another crippling and symbolic blow to anti-regime forces.
Mr Al Assad's control over the Jordanian border led to the reopening of the Nassib crossing in mid-October and the resumption of trade with Amman, a step that heralded further normalisation with Arab powers keen to have a say in Syria's future and to limit Mr Al Assad's dependency on Iran. Both Bahrain and the UAE later reopened their embassies in Damascus and the Arab League is now likely to readmit Syria.
Despite threatening to attack Idlib, a campaign that would have led to the largest humanitarian catastrophe in a war that has killed half a million people, Russia and Turkey came to an understanding that suspended the offensive. In January, Ankara signalled once again that its key priority is limiting Kurdish influence at its border, by invading and ousting Kurdish militias from the border region of Afrin, a campaign undertaken with Russia’s permission.
All the while, peace talks under the auspices of the UN have remained irrelevant, upended by those that have taken place between the three powers with an extensive presence on the ground: Russia, Turkey and Iran. Plans to convene a constitutional committee to draft Syria’s post-war charter faltered, but the project itself is likely to survive as part of a watered-down transition plan to satisfy European powers and pave the way for reconstruction aid, and a stake in Syria’s future for the West.
Trump’s shock announcement that he would soon withdraw from Syria removed what little western leverage existed there and destroyed months of build-up for what was believed to be a long-term US presence.
It has instead unleashed a race among regional powers to position themselves within the confines of a post-American Middle East. Moscow, which has long spearheaded the effort to maintain Mr Al Assad and the Syrian regime’s international respectability, has found common cause with Arab countries seeking to limit the influence of Iran, which has increasingly been seen as having a competing vision for post-war Syria with Moscow. Efforts to wean Mr Al Assad’s Syria from Iran have failed in the past, but they appear to be the motivation for this new drive towards regional recognition.
The revolution, meanwhile, has lost its voice. Beset by competing agendas and an international community that has done little to stem the violence beyond theatrical pronouncements at the UN Security Council, it fell to a brutal military campaign from without, and disunity, corruption and the strength of jihadist militias from within. Militants assassinated the well-known activist Raed Fares and his friend Hammud Al Junayd in November. Most jihadist groups that still have military capabilities are beholden to Turkey, puppets whose master now barely attempts to hide the strings.
As 2019 begins, Mr Al Assad has won, his military victories burnished by growing international acceptance that he will remain in power, and nurtured by Russia’s success in normalising his tyranny. The voices that once called for freedom and dignity in Syria, for an end to repression at the hands of the regime’s security services, for an accounting of the fates of political detainees, have quietened and will grow quieter still.
The flames of war will die down, offering many some respite from their suffering and the hope of normal life resuming. But the dream that propelled so many Syrians out on those peaceful demonstrations eight years ago is further away than ever.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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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
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
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Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays
4.5/5
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
SPECS
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COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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