As the battle for the city of Raqqa ends, aid organisations and activists are calling attention to what appears to be the most significant humanitarian crisis of Syria’s six-year civil war.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from the northern city, which was ISIL’s de facto capital of its self-declared caliphate.
Eighty per cent of the city was destroyed, according to some estimates, and many of the displaced are living in rudimentary camps outside Raqqa, where access to the most basic services is limited.
Nonetheless, tens of thousands of Syrians are reported to be joining those already displaced as fighting intensifies around the city of Deir Ezzor, about 140 kilometres southeast of Raqqa.
An International Committee of the Red Cross in Damascus spokeswoman said that an ICRC delegation visiting one camp on Tuesday found that its population had more than quadrupled since August.
“The number has gone from 6,000 to 26,000,” said Ingy Sedky, referring to the Arisha camp near the city of Hasaka, about 200 kilometres east of Raqqa.
“There are an additional 7,000 people waiting for a place to stay. They are waiting in the open without shelter, without tents and without access to basic needs.”
She said that 15 buses carrying people were arriving in the space of an hour.
“The increase in the number is beyond the ability of any actor to respond,” Ms Sedky said.
“The Syrian Arab Red Crescent and ICRC have been able to provide bottles of water for the people who are waiting, and we will begin very soon trucking in water.
“We have been sending some supplies, including food and winter clothes, also mattresses, but we have not been able to begin distribution.”
Save the Children, a non-governmental organisation, echoes the ICRC’s concerns, saying that some 270,000 people who left Raqqa were in critical need of aid and the camps are “bursting at the seams”.
“With high levels of destruction reported in and around Raqqa, most families have little or nothing to return home to and will likely be stuck in camps for months or years to come,” it said in a statement released on Tuesday. “In addition, more than 10,000 people a day are now fleeing ongoing fighting in ISIS strongholds around Deir Ezzor.”
Save the Children also referenced the psychological damage suffered by Raqqa’s residents.
“Children in camps around Raqqa have told Save the Children of witnessing executions and decapitations, seeing friends and relatives blown up by landmines, and homes reduced to rubble by bombing,” the statement said.
Abdulkarim Al Huaidi, who is involved in humanitarian aid projects, said there was not enough organisation to cover the needs of civilians.
“The water network has been destroyed because of bombing,” he said. “No hospitals can deal with the number of injured.”
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, more than 1,000 civilians had been killed since June, along with at least 2,000 combatants.
Mr Al Huaidi expected the toll from the fighting to rise, saying: “There are still civilians under the rubble.”
The political situation is also a concern for Raqqa residents who hope to return in spite of the destruction. It was the Syrian Democratic Forces — a militia backed by US air power, artillery and advisers — that defeated ISIL.
The SDF is dominated by Syrian Kurds, many of whom have an affiliation with the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia that serves as the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Though PYD’s exact intentions are unclear, they now control large parts of northeastern Syria and have been accused of systematically displacing Arabs. PYD advocates greater autonomy for Syrian Kurds, who make up about 10 per cent of the country’s population and have been oppressed for decades by the country’s Baathist government.
“I expect to come back to Raqqa after six months and work politically against PYD and YPG,” Mr Al Huaidi said.
Others from Raqqa went further, referring to the People’s Protection Units and the Syrian Democratic Forces as “occupiers”.
Col Ryan Dillon, the spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting ISIL in Iraq and Syria, put the SDF’s numbers at 57,000, about 31,000 of whom are Kurds. He acknowledged that in some cases, YPG units had been incorporated wholesale.
The SDF also controls many of the refugee camps, including Arisha.
One source, who asked to remain anonymous, said that because the SDF screens displaced Syrians waiting to enter camps under their control, as many as 40,000 additional people were waiting at SDF checkpoints for permission to enter the camps.
Du Football Champions
The fourth season of du Football Champions was launched at Gitex on Wednesday alongside the Middle East’s first sports-tech scouting platform.“du Talents”, which enables aspiring footballers to upload their profiles and highlights reels and communicate directly with coaches, is designed to extend the reach of the programme, which has already attracted more than 21,500 players in its first three years.
The specs: McLaren 600LT
Price, base: Dh914,000
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 600hp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 620Nm @ 5,500rpm
Fuel economy 12.2.L / 100km
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
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The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Asia Cup 2018 final
Who: India v Bangladesh
When: Friday, 3.30pm, Dubai International Stadium
Watch: Live on OSN Cricket HD
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
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Crazy Rich Asians
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeon, Gemma Chan
Four stars
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
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 biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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
