Thousands of civilians have fled the battle to oust the ISIL from its Syrian stronghold Raqqa, but some have chosen to brave the dangers of remaining on the frontlines rather than go to the displacement camps that surround the city.
Although the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have captured over half of Raqqa city since they first entered it in June, the battle remains grinding and fierce.
In Al Sabahiya district, 40-year-old Anud watched as plumes of black smoke rose from fighting just streets away.
She fled to the western neighbourhood with her husband and seven children two weeks ago after their home in the city centre was destroyed.
Her face covered in a black-and-white scarf, Anud said the home they were living in belonged to her brother, who had fled to a camp.
"We couldn't pay 50,000 pounds [Dh355] to rent a home, so we came and opened up my brother's house in this dangerous area," she said.
"We cleaned it and removed five mines that were inside the rooms."
The house is completely empty, its blue ceramic-tiled floor bare and the walls unadorned except for black graffiti.
Al Sabahiya was one of the first neighbourhoods captured by the SDF, but it remains dangerous.
"We don't let the children leave the house because we're afraid mines might explode underneath them," Anud said.
The family's belongings are still stacked in a white lorry parked outside, ready in case they have to flee at a moment's notice.
"We're living on edge. We don't know how we will die," Anud sighed. "God protect us. May Raqqa be liberated so that we can return to our homes in peace."
As she spoke, her 11-year-old son Ahmed listened in silence.
Ahmed stopped speaking after the trauma of seeing his home destroyed, his father wounded, and his neighbours displaced in fierce bombardment of his district.
Outside, a pair of scrawny young boys pushed a wheelbarrow full of jerry cans to a nearby canal to draw some water.
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Read more:
With rosaries in their hands, Christians flee Raqqa and ISIL
US-backed forces tighten the noose around ISIL in Raqqa
Iraqi air forces start offensive to retake Tal Afar from ISIL
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Much of Al Sabahiya has been destroyed by fighting, and civilians desperately rummage through the rubble looking for salvageable items.
It is Abu Ghanem's native neighbourhood, but the fighting has forced his family to leave several times.
"Back and forth, back and forth, sometimes we can go back to our houses, sometimes we go and sit in the open," said Abu Ghanem, who is his sixties.
His family cannot afford to leave the city and rent a home elsewhere.
"Sometimes there's no bread, sometimes there's no flour, sometimes there's nothing to eat," he said.
He sat cross-legged on a blue wicker mat inside his simple home, dragging on a cigarette as relatives lit a small camping stove to begin cooking.
Air strikes and bombardment regularly shake the walls of his house, whose glass windows have long since shattered.
"In the middle of the night, the children wake up and ask for bread because they are hungry," Abu Ghanem said.
"We're living on the front line in the middle of fear and terror."
His wife, Umm Ghanem, would rather leave the area.
"Should we stay here to die?" she asked angrily of her husband. "We don't know when a mine could explode. We're holding our lives in our hands."
When Fatima Ahmed's family fled their home in the western Al Romaniya district, they headed to a camp for the displaced, like thousands of other civilians from Raqqa.
But she said it was impossible to survive at the camp without money to buy basic necessities, so they headed back to Al Sabahiya.
"We're staying here, what can we do? We don't have the money to leave," she said.
Conditions in the camps for the displaced scattered across Raqqa province are harsh, according to UN agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Food and clean water are difficult to access, displaced families struggle in the blistering heat, and even the most basic medicine is often unavailable.
That leaves Raqqa natives like Fatima torn between being unable to afford life in the camp and trying to keep their families safe.
"There are a lot of mines here. We spend all day standing over the children like guards to make sure they don't get hurt," she said.
"We don't have anything - no water, no electricity. We take water from an irrigation canal nearby and it's dirty."
The home they are squatting in is near a position held by an SDF unit, which sometimes provides them with bread, sugar, and other food to survive.
Al Sabahiya is next to their home district of Al Romaniya, but in battle-torn Raqqa, it feels worlds away.
"We hope that the situation and the danger will end and we can go back to our homes because we're fed up with death and fear," Fatima said.
POWERWASH%20SIMULATOR
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Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Company%20Profile
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A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Martin Sabbagh profile
Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East
In the role: Since January 2015
Lives: In the UAE
Background: M&A, investment banking
Studied: Corporate finance
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Belong%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Michael%20Askew%20and%20Matthew%20Gaziano%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%243.5%20million%20from%20crowd%20funding%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier
Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August
Group A
Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar
Group B
UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Specs%20
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Race card
6.30pm: Emirates Holidays Maiden (TB), Dh82,500 (Dirt), 1,900m
7.05pm: Arabian Adventures Maiden (TB), Dh82,500 (D), 1,200m
7.40pm: Emirates Skywards Handicap (TB), Dh82,500 (D), 1,200m
8.15pm: Emirates Airline Conditions (TB), Dh120,000 (D), 1,400m
8.50pm: Emirates Sky Cargo (TB), Dh92,500 (D)1,400m
9.15pm: Emirates.com (TB), Dh95,000 (D), 2,000m
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
Spain drain
CONVICTED
Lionel Messi Found guilty in 2016 of of using companies in Belize, Britain, Switzerland and Uruguay to avoid paying €4.1m in taxes on income earned from image rights. Sentenced to 21 months in jail and fined more than €2m. But prison sentence has since been replaced by another fine of €252,000.
Javier Mascherano Accepted one-year suspended sentence in January 2016 for tax fraud after found guilty of failing to pay €1.5m in taxes for 2011 and 2012. Unlike Messi he avoided trial by admitting to tax evasion.
Angel di Maria Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain star Angel di Maria was fined and given a 16-month prison sentence for tax fraud during his time at Real Madrid. But he is unlikely to go to prison as is normal in Spain for first offences for non-violent crimes carrying sentence of less than two years.
SUSPECTED
Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid's star striker, accused of evading €14.7m in taxes, appears in court on Monday. Portuguese star faces four charges of fraud through offshore companies.
Jose Mourinho Manchester United manager accused of evading €3.3m in tax in 2011 and 2012, during time in charge at Real Madrid. But Gestifute, which represents him, says he has already settled matter with Spanish tax authorities.
Samuel Eto'o In November 2016, Spanish prosecutors sought jail sentence of 10 years and fines totalling €18m for Cameroonian, accused of failing to pay €3.9m in taxes during time at Barcelona from 2004 to 2009.
Radamel Falcao Colombian striker Falcao suspected of failing to correctly declare €7.4m of income earned from image rights between 2012 and 2013 while at Atletico Madrid. He has since paid €8.2m to Spanish tax authorities, a sum that includes interest on the original amount.
Jorge Mendes Portuguese super-agent put under official investigation last month by Spanish court investigating alleged tax evasion by Falcao, a client of his. He defended himself, telling closed-door hearing he "never" advised players in tax matters.
Oppenheimer
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NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
Men from Barca's class of 99
Crystal Palace - Frank de Boer
Everton - Ronald Koeman
Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
Manchester United - Jose Mourinho
Southampton - Mauricio Pellegrino
UAE Falcons
Carly Lewis (captain), Emily Fensome, Kelly Loy, Isabel Affley, Jessica Cronin, Jemma Eley, Jenna Guy, Kate Lewis, Megan Polley, Charlie Preston, Becki Quigley and Sophie Siffre. Deb Jones and Lucia Sdao – coach and assistant coach.
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
