The turmoil of Syria today is revealed with the first steps visitors take on its soil.
The arrival is announced by a huge banner that reads, "Welcome to Free Syria." Above it, flutters the green, white and black flag of the revolution.
New arrivals can wipe their feet on a doormat bearing the image of the president, Bashar Al Assad, outside a small prefabricated building. Inside, two "revolutionary" passport control officers check papers before allowing people into the country.
Once into Syria from the Turkish border town of Kilis, the first town you reach is Azzaz, where the charred skeletons of several regime tanks litter the main road.
From there, farmland is interspersed with dusty villages where many homes have been damaged by regime shelling and air strikes.
Checkpoints are manned by rebels, some as young as 16 or 17, armed with assault rifles and carrying two-way radios.
But signs of the regime's power are visible as the journey takes you past a major air force base.
Further on, the secondary road leading to Aleppo, used by the rebels, runs perilously close to the main motorway under the regime's control.
"Frequently our road will be shelled from the air force base, but often only at night," revealed the driver, who would only give his nickname, Abu Ahmed.
"There is a sort of an unwritten understanding on who gets to use which road. So, the rebels use this road and the regime uses the motorway."
Once in Aleppo, the largest city in Syria with its population of three million people, the grim realities of the war are revealed.
The city shakes from the blasts of artillery, tank shelling and mortar rounds. The scream of aircraft engines sends many scurrying for cover. In rebel-held areas, entire streets are deserted, with mounds of rubble blocking the roads. Scores of people wait in line outside bakeries to buy bread.
The stench of rubbish fills the air, with a mound of trash sitting at almost every corner. Men and teenage boys scavenge the waste looking for anything that they can sell. Most stores are shuttered. Those open have little to offer.
But some men, women and children walk the streets seemingly unmoved by the thuds of shells impacting nearby or the crackle of gunfire.
After more than three months of street-to-street fighting, neither side has been able to deal the other a decisive blow and take full control of the city.
Rebels drive their cars, mostly covered with a coat of dust and without number plates, at breakneck speed, ferrying their wounded to the field hospital, Dar Al Shifa. Occasionally, rebels who are struck by grief over the loss of their comrades shoot into the air, which terrorises residents and infuriates hospital staff.
Fuel is sold on the pavement by black market hawkers taking advantage of shortages to make a hefty profit. Lengthy power and water cuts are a daily occurrence. The city is blanketed in darkness after nightfall with only rebels roaming the streets.
It is the Dar Al Shifa hospital though that speaks the most about what has befallen this city that was once vibrant with commerce and culture.
Once a private hospital owned by a regime loyalist, the seven-storey Dar Al Shifa was taken over by a band of volunteers as well as trained doctors and nurses, who turned it into the city's main field hospital. The staff treat rebels as well as civilians - a total of 100 cases on average every day. About 80 per cent of cases are civilians.
The hospital has been shelled six times since the volunteers took over in July. The shelling damaged the building's upper floors, leaving just the ground floor, the basement and the first and second floors in use. Medical supplies come from donors, who also supply the staff's meagre salaries.
The hospital's lobby is the main hub of activity since the emergency room has only three beds. In the minutes that follow the sound of an explosion, the area fills with wounded, pools of blood cover the floor, the air is filled with the groans and screams of the wounded, some of them are laid down on the floor for a lack of gurneys. Some of the wounded beg for attention, but are told, often firmly, they must wait until the more critical cases are dealt with. The wounded are men, women and children of all ages.
When the atmosphere becomes too charged up or depressing, someone calls on everyone to do "takbeer," and everyone chants in unison "Allahu Akbar".
Those with serious wounds are sent to better-equipped hospitals in government-controlled areas or clinics in the rural areas of Aleppo. Those who succumb to their wounds are placed on the pavement outside. If they are not identified by relatives or friends within 12 hours they are taken away for burial in the Modern Islamic cemetery.
Like clockwork, the hospital's volunteer orderlies begin washing the blood from the floor with water and disinfectants as soon as the wounded are cleared from the lobby. Staff members take a break: a smoke or a bite to eat. Some sleep on chairs or stretch on a mattress behind the reception's counter.
The political convictions of the hospital staff at times feed the tension. The hospital's two doctors - Abu Rayan and Osman Al Hajj - are secular minded, along with several members of the staff. Many others are conservative or even militant Islamists who embrace the ideals of extremism and frame the Syrian conflict in a religious context.
The tension between the two sides surface when they engage in discussions on the future of Syria and the role of religion in post-Al Assad Syria. There are also disagreements over the growing influence in Aleppo of local extremists who have joined forces with foreign fighters who embrace a similar ideology.
In some ways, their differences mirror the fault line in Syria about the vision for the country's future - a nation that embraces the values of democracy or an Islamic state hostile to the West.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
RESULTS
5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (Turf) 2,200m
Winner: M'A Yaromoon, Jesus Rosales (jockey), Khalifa Al Neydai (trainer)
5.30pm: Khor Al Baghal – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: No Riesgo Al Maury, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6pm: Khor Faridah – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: JAP Almahfuz, Royston Ffrench, Irfan Ellahi
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Mahmouda, Pat Cosgrave, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AS Jezan, George Buckell, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
7.30pm: Khor Laffam – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Dolman, Antonio Fresu, Bhupath Seemar
The%20Mandalorian%20season%203%20episode%201
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERick%20Famuyiwa%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPedro%20Pascal%20and%20Katee%20Sackhoff%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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
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 White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Results
5pm: UAE Martyrs Cup (TB) Conditions Dh90,000 2,200m
Winner: Mudaarab, Jim Crowley (jockey), Erwan Charpy (trainer).
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Handicap Dh70,000 1,400m
Winner: Jawal Al Reef, Richard Mullen, Hassan Al Hammadi.
6pm: UAE Matyrs Trophy (PA) Maiden Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: Salima Al Reef, Jesus Rosales, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
6.30pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak (IFAHR) Apprentice Championship (PA) Prestige Dh100,000 1,600m
Winner: Bainoona, Ricardo Iacopini, Eric Lemartinel.
7pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak (IFAHR) Ladies World Championship (PA) Prestige Dh125,000 1,600m
Winner: Assyad, Victoria Larsen, Eric Lemartinel.
8pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown (PA) Group 1 Dh5,000,000 1,600m
Winner: Mashhur Al Khalediah, Jean-Bernard Eyquem, Phillip Collington.
Abu Dhabi race card
5pm Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic Prestige | Dh110,000 | 1,400m
5.30pm Abu Dhabi Colts Classic Prestige | Dh110,000 | 1,400m
6pm Abu Dhabi Championship Listed | Dh180,000 | 1,600m
6.30pm Maiden | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
7pm Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap | Dh80,000 | 1,400m
7.30pm Handicap (TB) |Dh100,000 | 2,400m
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
All Black 39-12 British & Irish Lions
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Mobile phone packages comparison
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
