Damascus // Sitting in his small, dark apartment in a suburb of Syria's ancient capital city, Abu Wasim has a new worry to add to his already long list of concerns. As an Iraqi refugee, he is increasingly alarmed by an escalating diplomatic row between Damascus and Baghdad.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have fled the continuing violence in their own country for the safety of Syria. However with relations between the neighbours in free fall over allegations that Damascus is sheltering the militants behind a recent Baghdad bombing, there are growing fears among refugees that they may be the ones to suffer.
"We are watching what is happening and we are keeping our fingers crossed that we are not caught in the middle," said Mr Wasim, a 60-year-old former English teacher living with his family in Syria. He left Iraq in 2007 after his eldest son was murdered and has since suffered from clinical depression.
"The Syrians have generously hosted us and we hope they will let us stay here. None of us wants to have to go back to Iraq, we don't want to have to face that, the war has not ended."
Since the US-led invasion of 2003, Syria has kept its border open to a tide of Iraqi refugees. The policy - Syrian officials say 1.2 million Iraqis are currently present - has come at a significant cost, with already overstressed infrastructure struggling to cope with the burden. Hospitals and schools have been hit by rising demands for services while electricity grids, fuel, food and water supplies have been pushed, at times, beyond capacity. Housing costs, particularly in Damascus, have soared.
According to an annual economic report issued this week by Bank Audi, damaging double-digit inflation levels in Syria could be cut by a large-scale return of Iraqis.
Changing visa rules or refusing Iraqis permission to stay is a temptation the Syrian authorities have so far resisted. But Iraqi refugees have been on the lookout for signs this latest diplomatic crisis has exhausted Syria's patience.
"There has been no change in the way we are treated here, we are still being made welcome," said Abu Khalid, an Iraqi refugee from Basra living in Sahnaiya, south of Damascus. He just renewed his residency permit and said the Syrian immigration officer had assured him that Iraqis would not be asked to leave.
"We are concerned about this. My friends have to get their residency permissions renewed and we hope there will not be any problems. We hope we still have Syrian support."
The political storm broke - unexpectedly and very publicly - after Iraq accused Syria of sheltering the insurgents behind the "Black Wednesday" bombings of August 19 that killed about 100 people and wounded 1,000 more in Baghdad. Despite Syria's condemnation of the blasts and vociferous denials of involvement, last week Iraq recalled its ambassador to Damascus in protest. The gesture was immediately echoed by Syria.
Since then, Nouri al Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, has said "90 per cent" of foreign militants staging attacks in Iraq were funnelled through Syria. And he demanded that Iraqi exiles blamed for the bombing be handed over.
The speed and timing of the crisis has raised numerous questions. The bombing happened a day after Mr al Maliki met the Syrian president, Bashar Assad, in Damascus, talks that concluded with the two setting up a joint strategic council to manage economic and security interests. Often strained in the past, Iraq-Syria relations appeared to be entering a new and positive phase. That was all demolished a few days later.
"The victims of Black Wednesday were Iraqi civilians but, politically speaking, the real target might have been Syria and its relations with Iraq," said Mazen Bilal, a Syrian journalist and political commentator who described the crisis as "deep and real".
"The problem is that in Iraq now there are too many groups fighting for power, there is a war among various intelligence services, there are many different agendas and there is no real government in control."
Turkey has now stepped in and is attempting to diffuse tensions between Baghdad and Damascus.
Unconfirmed details of the pre-bomb meeting between the Iraqi and Syrian premiers suggest that the crisis may, in part, have been fostered there.
According to a number of Syrian and Iraqi sources, Mr al Maliki handed his Syrian counterpart a wanted list with the names of 100 suspected insurgents on it. Exactly the same list had been given to the Syrians in a meeting earlier that month with a US military delegation to Damascus.
"When Maliki gave the Syrians the list, they told him they'd already seen it and asked if he was following Iraqi policies or just doing what the Americans told him to," said a Syrian analyst who asked not to be named. "Maliki left in a black mood."
And there is an additional personal edge to the crisis. For more than a decade Mr al Maliki himself lived as a political exile in Damascus, as an opponent to Saddam Hussein. His vocal anti-Syrian remarks have been taken as a very direct slight by the country that once gave him safe refuge from persecution.
While ordinary refugees fret about Syria changing its policy on allowing them to stay, Iraqi political groups, including those wanted by the Baghdad authorities, do not appear to share their concerns. Members of the Iraqi opposition supporting or involved in the insurgency say they are confident Syria will not betray them.
"The Baathists in Syria accused of the bombing certainly did not do it," said Mohammad Faris, a Damascus-based member of the Union of Iraqi Liberation Forces, an insurgent alliance. Mr Faris has close ties to the Baathist wing being blamed for the bombing, led by Yunis al Ahmed.
"Syria has said it will hand over anyone involved in the attacks if there is evidence and there is no such evidence," Mr Faris said. "I am sure Syria will not be asking any of the Iraqis here to leave. I think Syria will continue its support for the Iraqi people."
psands@thenational.ae
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.
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MOST%20POLLUTED%20COUNTRIES%20IN%20THE%20WORLD
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Brief scores:
Juventus 3
Dybala 6', Bonucci 17', Ronaldo 63'
Frosinone 0
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
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
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
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
RESULTS
6.30pm: Emirates Holidays Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Lady Snazz, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Arabian Adventures Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7.40pm: Emirates Skywards Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Rich And Famous, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.15pm: Emirates Airline Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Rio Angie, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Emirates Sky Cargo (TB) Dh 92,500 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Kinver Edge, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
9.15pm: Emirates.com (TB) Dh 95,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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
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.
Company%20Profile
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Avatar%20(2009)
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SPECS
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
RIDE%20ON
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Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
