Every day from 6am until 3pm, Syrian shepherd Hassoun Al Hadidi ekes out a living by tending a herd of 100 sheep and goats among the hills of central Jordan.
The biblical highlands west of the city of Al Salt overlook Israel and the West Bank. At night, the lights of Jericho, Jerusalem and Nablus shine across the Jordan Valley.
These are areas with a history of dispossession, a trauma Mr Al Hadidi, 35, went through during the civil war in Syria.
“Life was getting very tough even before the war,” says Mr Al Hadidi, who grew wheat and cotton at his farm in northern Syria and also owned livestock.
“Water was running out and we were barely planting anything.”
In 2014, Mr Al Hadidi fled his farm on the fringes of Aleppo governorate after his house and 125,000 square metres of land were captured by ISIS and then by Syrian Kurdish militia supported by the US.
The thin, bearded farmer and his wife and seven children eventually joined the roughly 760,000 refugees hosted by Jordan, most of whom are Syrian.
They are among the 64 per cent of refugees in Jordan who live on $5.50 a day or less.
Syrians displaced by the civil war are being increasingly forgotten as neighbouring Arab countries seek to normalise relations with the Bashar Al Assad government. Meanwhile, the US and Europe focus their foreign policy on the Russian war in Ukraine.
The Syrian conflict started when peaceful demonstrations erupted in 2011 against five decades of Assad family rule. The regime violently suppressed the protests, sparking the militarisation of the revolt.
One by-product of the ensuing civil war has been the fragmentation of the country into areas controlled by the government, Kurdish militia and Shiite and Sunni militants, among other factions.
In Jordan, Mr Al Hadidi earns $350 a month for tending the herd of sheep and goats, whose owner is from a prominent clan in Al Salt.
The UN World Food Programme gives his family another $128 in monthly stipends to buy food. This amount is due to be cut next month by one third, with the WFP saying the reduction is partly due to having to respond to Ukraine’s needs.
Mr Al Hadidi boosted his income recently by renting a piece of land and planted okra during the rainy season. He sold the yield over the past two months and made a $300 profit.
“It was totally rain-fed okra and no fertilisers were used,” he says.
But it is the kindness of some people in Al Salt that has helped Mr Al Hadidi cope with the hardship of refugee life.
The herd owner, who also owns a farm in the area, gave the Al Hadidis a room in which to live.
“There is a kitchen outside,” Mr Al Hadidi says, pointing to the room at the top of a sharp incline.
Two years ago, Mr Al Hadidi’s youngest child Saba fell from the top of the slope when she was 7 months old. She survived because she landed on one of the goats among the herd of mostly sheep.
“She fell seven metres, the Civil Defence measured the distance when they came,” Mr Al Hadidi says.
“They examined Saba and said she sustained not even a scratch.”
The sheep Mr Al Hadidi looks after, a breed called awas, are raised naturally and are not injected with hormones. They are exported to the Gulf but there is also strong demand from the local market, although it is about a third more expensive than sheep imported from Eastern Europe.
“The meat is pink because the sheep only eat from the land,” Mr Al Hadidi says.
In the past 25 years, the view over Palestine has attracted wealthy people from Amman to Al Salt highlands, where many have bought land and built villas with large gardens.
One of them invited Mr Al Hadidi to plant crops on his land to supplement his income and also intervened to ensure the entry of Mr Al Hadidi's children to state schools.
Asked whether he would return to Syria if economic conditions improved, Mr Al Hadidi says: “How can I return to a place where you cannot live with dignity?”
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
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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
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Women & Power: A Manifesto
Mary Beard
Profile Books and London Review of Books
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
Sri Lanka v England
First Test, at Galle
England won by 211
Second Test, at Kandy
England won by 57 runs
Third Test, at Colombo
From Nov 23-27
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
MADAME%20WEB
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Six pitfalls to avoid when trading company stocks
Following fashion
Investing is cyclical, buying last year's winners often means holding this year's losers.
Losing your balance
You end up with too much exposure to an individual company or sector that has taken your fancy.
Being over active
If you chop and change your portfolio too often, dealing charges will eat up your gains.
Running your losers
Investors hate admitting mistakes and hold onto bad stocks hoping they will come good.
Selling in a panic
If you sell up when the market drops, you have locked yourself out of the recovery.
Timing the market
Even the best investor in the world cannot consistently call market movements.
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
Company%20Profile
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet
Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
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15 years, 235 days old
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16 years, 30 days old
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16 years, 68 days old
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The%20Genius%20of%20Their%20Age
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