When Syrian authorities said they would allow returns to the war-ravaged Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees in southern Damascus, Issa Al Loubani rushed to sign up and quickly started repairing his home.
Hundreds of former residents have already requested permission to go back to the settlement, home to 160,000 Palestinian refugees and some Syrian families before the conflict broke out in 2011.
More than 400 families have returned in the last few months because they cannot afford to rent homes elsewhere after years of displacement, the UN said in early November.
Mr Al Loubani, who first left in 2012, is determined to join their ranks even if the windows of his wrecked apartment are still covered with plastic sheeting.
“Our flat needs major work, but it's better than paying rent,” said Mr Al Loubani, who has been living in an apartment in Damascus with his wife and daughter.
“We still need electricity, running water and to clear rubble from the streets” before moving back in, the Palestinian refugee, 48, said from Yarmouk.
Syrian government and allied forces retook the camp in 2018 from ISIS.
But two years on, reconstruction has been slow and the scars of war remain visible.
The walls of Mr Al Loubani’s building are pockmarked with bullet holes.
Neighbouring blocks have had their facades blown off or their balconies cave.
Some structures have collapsed following years of bombardment and heavy fighting.
Mr Al Loubani’s wife, Ilham, finds an old photo from their wedding in the rubble-strewn alley.
“That’s Umm Walid,” she says, pointing to one of the guests in the picture.
Founded in 1957 with tents for Palestinians who fled or were ousted from their homes with the establishment of Israel, Yarmouk grew into a bustling district.
In 2012, about 140,000 residents fled as clashes raged.
Those who stayed faced severe shortages of food and medicine under a withering years-long government siege.
ISIS entered the area in 2015, bringing further suffering to remaining residents until the militants were forced out three years later.
This month, the Damascus municipality said residents could register to return to Yarmouk if their homes were structurally sound.
About 600 families have already signed up, said Mahmoud Al Khaled, a Palestinian who heads a committee that clears rubble in the camp.
But the civil engineer, who grew up in Yarmouk, said fewer than half of the buildings were safe for habitation.
The 430 families who have already returned despite difficult living conditions rely heavily on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
About 75 per cent of UNRWA’s 23 premises in Yarmouk, including 16 schools, need to be completely rebuilt, and all three of its health centres have been destroyed.
To compensate, the organisation sends a mobile health clinic to the camp once a week and provides buses to transport children to schools in Damascus.
A month ago, Syrian Shehab Al Din Blidi returned to his home, one of the few flats in Yarmouk largely spared by the fighting.
Its cosy living room with bright paint and upholstered armchairs stands in stark contrast with the wasteland outside.
“If we had waited for electricity, water and sewage to return, we would have perhaps” had to wait for a year before coming back, said Mr Blidi, 60.
With little outside help, he said it was up to residents to fend for themselves.
“Reconstruction requires efforts from several countries,” he said.
“In the meantime, we have to make do.”
Mr Blidi has managed to secure some electricity for his flat through a long cable connected to a power source beyond the camp.
With no running water, he buys large bottles from outside Yarmouk and stores them at home.
But for camp residents displaced to Idlib – the last major opposition bastion, in northwestern Syria – returning is nearly impossible.
“No one in the [opposition-held] north can register to return or even reach Yarmouk,” said Ahmad Khormandi, who left the camp when ISIS entered in 2015.
He and his family now live in a displacement camp in Idlib province near the border with Turkey.
The Palestinian, 43, said that he fears arrest if he returns to Yarmouk.
But even if he were allowed back, he said, returning to live in his home would be impossible.
“I don’t have the means to fix my house,” he said.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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
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
SERIE A FIXTURES
Friday Sassuolo v Benevento (Kick-off 11.45pm)
Saturday Crotone v Spezia (6pm), Torino v Udinese (9pm), Lazio v Verona (11.45pm)
Sunday Cagliari v Inter Milan (3.30pm), Atalanta v Fiorentina (6pm), Napoli v Sampdoria (6pm), Bologna v Roma (6pm), Genoa v Juventus (9pm), AC Milan v Parma (11.45pm)
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
The bio
Favourite book: Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
Favourite quote: “The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist
Favourite Authors: Arab poet Abu At-Tayyib Al-Mutanabbi
Favourite Emirati food: Luqaimat, a deep-fried dough soaked in date syrup
Hobbies: Reading and drawing
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh135,000
Engine 1.6L turbo
Gearbox Six speed automatic with manual and sports mode
Power 165hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 240Nm @ 1,400rpm 0-100kph: 9.2 seconds
Top speed 420 kph (governed)
Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)
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
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE SQUAD
Omar Abdulrahman (Al Hilal), Ali Khaseif, Ali Mabkhout, Salem Rashed, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Zayed Al Ameri, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Khalid Essa, Ahmed Barman, Ryan Yaslam, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmin (Al Wasl), Adel Al Hosani, Ali Hassan Saleh, Majed Suroor (Sharjah), Ahmed Khalil, Walid Abbas, Majed Hassan, Ismail Al Hammadi (Shabab Al Ahli), Hassan Al Muharrami, Fahad Al Dhahani (Bani Yas), Mohammed Al Shaker (Ajman)
The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
The specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 217hp at 5,750rpm
Torque: 300Nm at 1,900rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh130,000
On sale: now
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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
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
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
The years Ramadan fell in May
