Dressed in a pink winter jumpsuit and a knitted hat, Arias, 2, sits on a flattened cardboard box at a makeshift camp in the woods near the Belarus-Poland border.
Arias doesn't play, he doesn't carry any toys. He doesn't smile, he cries frequently.
He has barely any food or water, save for an apple given to him by a Belarusian KGB agent shortly before a group of Polish volunteers entered the camp after learning of the alarming conditions, where temperatures routinely drop below 0°C at night and do not reach double figures by day.
Arias's father Hiwa and mother Shamam were schoolteachers from Kurdistan. The family are among the thousands of migrants trying to make their way to Europe via Belarus, struggling for survival in tent settlements dotted close to the Kuznica border crossing in north-eastern Poland.
At least 10 people have died since the beginning of the humanitarian and political crisis unfolding in the woodlands where thousands of migrants are stranded.
Minsk has been accused by Western leaders of deliberately provoking a new refugee crisis in Europe by encouraging migrants to pass through its borders and cross into EU territory.
Meanwhile, Warsaw has pushed back thousands of asylum seekers approaching its borders after passing new legislation in mid-October, contrary to international law and convention. About 20,000 border police have been sent to the Polish frontier and pleas for help have gone out to the UK, EU and Nato.
Poland in September introduced a state of emergency on the border. Journalists, aid agencies and even volunteer medics are forbidden from entering the three-kilometre emergency zone. Some within the local community having stepped in to help migrants they have found on the Polish side. Activists in and outside the exclusion zone are trying to help however they can, offering food and clothes or giving lifesaving information. Communication is done over telephone with migrants in the forest wherever battery life and reception coverage permits.
Sanna Filgarowicz, a Polish volunteer human rights activist, has been in touch with several asylum seekers in the past few weeks. She has not been into the exclusion zone but has spent up to 17 hours a day on her phone, “helping from a distance” by passing along important survival information to those sleeping outside. She is also collecting and documenting evidence of human rights violations.
Relaying what she’s seen and heard to The National, it is clear she is deeply affected. “All day I get a lot of films, information, requests for help … this experience is heart-breaking. A lot of suffering, a lot of trauma, a lot of despair and hope,” she said.
Arias's family, in particular, are always on her mind. Hiwa has been in touch with Sanna over messenger apps since early November.
All night I wake Arias up to check if he is still alive. I don’t want to see anyone die or frozen when I get up
The family arrived in Belarus on a flight at the end of October and after a spending about a week in Minsk, travelled on towards the border with another group of migrants they had met.
Sanna will not divulge too much about the circumstances that made Arias’s family leave their country for fear of getting them in trouble with authorities should they be repatriated.
“I haven’t ask them directly about their story but I know that they are scared to go back," she said.
For 10 days, Arias, Hiwa and Shamam have been going nowhere, except in circles around a cold, wet forest. With temperatures dropping and the political stand-off frozen, the situation is deteriorating for those trapped in the middle.
A family existing in fear and despair
Thursday, November 4
Hiwa messages Sanna:
“I wish I have a life like yours, a calm life, my wife and I were teachers in Iraqi Kurdistan…”
“I want to save my son from there so that he can live a normal life when he grows up”
“I understand that you can do nothing but help us, it’s so good that you do not hate us”
“What I want the people of Europe to know … is that we are nothing less than them and we are human and we have hearts and we have mothers and fathers and children”
Sunday, November 7
Hiwa and his family set off from Minsk towards Poland. They reached the Sylvan area near the Belarusian-Polish border in the afternoon and spent their first night in the forest that evening.
“My wife and son slept but I cannot sleep. I see people feel sad,” writes Hiwa that evening as they camp outdoors.
"It is silent and all you can hear is the terrifying wailing of a child. I don’t know how to sleep. What will happen tomorrow? I hope that I can provide my child with a different future to my life. I am afraid for them, I want them to be healthy, nothing else,” he writes over WhatsApp.
Monday, November 8
Hiwa’s family tried crossing the Belarusian border to apply for asylum in Poland but they were denied entry. They ended up in the wild woodland in Belarus camped out beside barbed wire running along the Polish border. The area is holding an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people.
Hiwa’s family attempted to turn back into Minsk but were denied re-entry. They are effectively trapped in the forest.
“Is there any news about what Poland intends to do with us? Or Germany?” asks Hiwa early in the morning. Border troops have built up heavily this week and Poland, along with other members of the EU, have signalled that they will not take any migrants in to claim asylum.
Without shelter and in day-time temperature highs of 8°C and rain, panic over their future begins to set in.
“We just feel cold. It’s very cold and we can’t sleep, no one is sleeping. We have a sleeping bag but when we put it on the ground it is so cold”
One of the activists on the WhatsApp group gives Hiwa advice on how to keep warm outdoors, telling them to put twigs and leaves on the ground to act as insulation.
“We put it under the sleeping bag but it is still so cold,” comes the reply.
Hiwa begins to worry about basic survival.
“In this area there is no water, no lake or ponds. We can eat grass if we have to save our life but for water, we can’t,” writes Hiwa.
He has been rationing the amount of water he can give his son by using a bottle cap.
“Are they letting us die here?” one of the other migrants in the group with Hiwa asks Sanna over WhatsApp.
“What should we do?”
Besides the thirst and cold, there’s sleeplessness to contend with as military presence ratchets up.
“Polish soldiers put the light on us every 5 minutes. There’s a helicopter every 5 minutes above us, no one can sleep,” writes Hiwa.
The following evening is calmer, he reports. “They released us from that torment.”
Hiwa is feeling the cold and the thirst.
“When I get to a safe place I will drink so much water until I can’t drink any more."
That day the Belarusian authorities pass around a bottle of water for each family. “It will be helpful for today. I can hold myself not to eat but I can’t hold myself not to drink water.”
“I miss those times when I used to sit and eat my favourite food until I’m full. I promise whenever I [get out] I will invite you to make Kurdish food for you."
Wednesday, November 10
Contact becomes less frequent as the days go by but the assistance and advice from activists appears to be helping.
“Today we made a shelter so it is better now,” writes Hiwa after following Sanna’s instructions on how to build shelter from woods and leaves.
Thursday, November 11
Temperatures have dropped at night and the official death toll stands at 10 from suspected hypothermia and exhaustion. Unofficially, migrant accounts suggest a higher number. Rumours are passing through the camp that a child died overnight in the forest and panic is rising.
“We are fine during the day but it gets colder at night. All night I wake Arias up to check if he is still alive. I don’t want to see anyone die or frozen when I get up,” writes Hiwa.
Friday, November 12
“I don’t want to complain all the time but I barely slept last night, we put Arias in the sleeping bag and me and Shamam were around him without a sleeping bag. We go to the fire to warm up and then go back to Arias so he will not wake up. We sleep when our friend wakes up in the morning.”
“Today they brought a lot of food: chicken, milk, biscuit, blankets, clothes, fish, meat. A lot of it was food.”
Saturday, November 13
The body of a young Syrian man is found in the woods.
An information war is playing out in the woods and rumours are swirling that Poland will let the migrants through the border and that Germany will also grant safe passage and asylum to the migrants. Neither of these are true but those in the forest do not know that.
“They said now that they will open the way tomorrow, is there any news like that? Do you know anything about that news? Please search,” implores Hiwa to Sanna.
“Everyone here is happy and singing thinking it is true.”
Sanna is afraid there will be some “provocation” overnight at the border if people try to make their way there and they are not let in.
Sunday, November 14
“We are fine Sanna, thank you. My battery is not charged. Sorry I cannot contact you,” writes Hiwa by way of explaining his infrequent communication.
That was the last time Sanna heard from Hiwa, though she is still in touch with other migrants travelling alongside, so is up-to-date on his well-being.
“They’re sleeping on the road near the border pass now,” she tells The National. “It is harder because it is colder and it is more difficult to make fire on the road.”
Belarus border crisis latest – in pictures
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.
Honeymoonish
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EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
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)
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Company%C2%A0profile
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The years Ramadan fell in May
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
From: Ras Al Khaimah
Age: 50
Profession: Electronic engineer, worked with Etisalat for the past 20 years
Hobbies: 'Anything that involves exploration, hunting, fishing, mountaineering, the sea, hiking, scuba diving, and adventure sports'
Favourite quote: 'Life is so simple, enjoy it'
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
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The years Ramadan fell in May
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
More on Quran memorisation:
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
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
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Norway
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Canada
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South Korea
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Votes
Total votes: 1.8 million
Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes
Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes
Zayed Sustainability Prize
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Cracks in the Wall
Ben White, Pluto Press
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Read more about the coronavirus
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The five pillars of Islam
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile
Name: Tratok Portal
Founded: 2017
Based: UAE
Sector: Travel & tourism
Size: 36 employees
Funding: Privately funded
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The biog
Age: 23
Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering
Favourite hobby: playing the piano
Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"
Family: Married and with a daughter
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
More on Yemen's civil war
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua Based: Dubai, UAE Number of employees: 28 Sector: Financial services Investment: $9.5m Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors. GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
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.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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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
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
