In a few days, it will be a year since Aylan Kurdi was photographed face down and lifeless on a beach in Turkey. The three-year old Syrian boy had been seeking to escape the Syrian civil war with his family, only to drown in the darkness of the Mediterranean.
The photograph of Aylan crossed the world, briefly – too briefly – bringing the Syrian war and the refugee crisis it caused back to the forefront of people’s minds. But it soon faded.
A year later, another haunting image has emerged, this time of five-year old Omran Daqneesh, sitting in the back of an ambulance after a Russian strike destroyed his family home. Again, the sheer humanity of the moment gives us pause. It brings home the reality of the war and the sheer scale of the refugee crisis. It should also serve as a reprimand to all those countries in the international community, particularly the most powerful, who are no closer to a solution in Syria today than they were a year ago.
The image of Omran is merely the tip of a vast iceberg of suffering. Omran, as even the medics who pulled him out of the rubble said at the time, is far from unique. There are thousands and tens of thousands of children like him, bewildered by the war that has devastated their homeland, innocent victims of a grown-up war. There are tens of thousands more huddled in refugee camps, displaced in cities and homes not their own, away from school, with little hope.
In the year since Aylan died, there has been little progress. The Assad war machine, now backed by the firepower of Russian fighter jets, has continued to devastate large parts of Syria. The rebels remain fragmented, unable to agree even on the names of their militias, let alone on a future for the country. ISIL continues to terrorise civilians on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border. And the international community looks on, talking of “ceasefires” and “negotiations”, while disallowing refugees from entering and demonising those few who make it in.
Omran’s face should shame us. The worst humanitarian disaster of this century is taking place in real time, on TV screens around the world – and we are merely looking on and talking.
MORE ON TURKEY'S SYRIA OFFENCE
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
'Ghostbusters: From Beyond'
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: now
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
'Shakuntala Devi'
Starring: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra
Director: Anu Menon
Rating: Three out of five stars
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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
