ISTANBUL // Two rockets hit Hizbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut yesterday, marking a dangerous new phase in Syria's civil war.
The attack on the Beirut suburb of Chiyah was limited in scale - four Syrian labourers were wounded and some windows were smashed - but its implications could be far reaching.
It was the first time the Hizbollah-dominated area has been attacked, sparking fears that a new front in the Syrian war is opening in the Lebanese capital.
The Free Syrian Army, the umbrella group representing some rebel forces, denied any role, but one FSA officer described the attack as a warning to Hizbollah.
"In coming days we will do more than this. This is a warning to Hizbollah and the Lebanese government to keep Hizbollah's hands off Syria," Ammar Al Wawi said.
Some Syrian rebels have said the war would soon arrive on Hizbollah's home turf if the group continued to fight alongside Bashar Al Assad's forces inside Syria. That pledge seems to have been borne out.
The rockets were fired less than 24 hours after Hizbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, delivered an apocalyptic warning that his forces were engaged in an "existential war" and that thousands of his loyalists were prepared to die in pursuit of victory.
"We will continue to the end of the road, we accept this responsibility and will accept all sacrifices and expected consequences of this position," he said.
The rockets fired into Chiyah were presumably part of those expected consequences. So too must be the increasing number of Hizbollah fighters being killed in Qusayr, near the Syrian-Lebanese border.
News reports suggested another 22 Shiite militants were killed in fierce fighting there on Saturday, adding to the spiralling death toll on both sides.
Qusayr, an otherwise unremarkable small Syrian town about 10 kilometres from the frontier with Lebanon, has become the focal point of a strategically and symbolically important battle between the regime and the rebels.
The war is, however, frighteningly larger than that.
Alongside Mr Al Assad stand Hizbollah and Iran - the self-styled "resistance bloc" - and Russia. All are powerful allies providing the Syrian government with the advanced weapons, money, fighters and diplomatic cover it needs to sustain a war that has already killed upwards of 94,000 people.
Syria's rebels are similarly, if less unconditionally or lucratively, supported by outside powers. Foreign Islamist fighters have flocked to their cause, Saudi Arabic, Qatar and Turkey have ensured a limited flow of cash and guns reach their hands, and the US and EU are - hesitantly and partially - backing them on the world stage.
The Syrian uprising started in March 2011 with a small group of young men and women peacefully demanding more political rights in a stifling family-run autocracy.
It morphed into a civil war when the regime's violence against those early protesters provoked a violent response.
That civil war is no longer, if it ever was, merely a matter for Syrians alone to determine. Regional and world powers are increasingly, irrevocably tangled up in the destructive, bloody mess.
And an alarming sectarian undertone, whispered at first, now shouted, has risen increasingly to the forefront, pitting Sunni against Shiite.
Most of the rebels in Syria are Sunnis, so too are their backers. Reglious militancy in the powerful and Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat Al Nusra, and other rebel factions, is prominent.
On the other side, the Syrian regime has, for more than 40 years of rule, been dominated by Alawites, a Shiite sect. Its supporters, Hizbollah and the Iranian theocracy, are militant Shiites.
It is difficult to determine exactly how large this sectarian dimension is but there is little question it is growing, and it is highly dangerous for a region that, in Lebanon and Iraq, has known appalling confessional wars in recent years.
Syria is now a playground for layer upon layer of interwoven conflicts. Shiite versus Sunni, secular versus religious, Iran versus the Arab Gulf states, Israel versus its enemies, the US versus Russia - to name some.
Yesterday 12 people were killed in fighting between Syrian rebels and Kurdish factions in north-eastern Syria, yet another dimension of a complex, worsening conflict.
A lurch towards regional war has been aided and abetted by persistent divisions within the opposition Syrian National Coalition, currently hovering on the brink of collapse in Istanbul.
It has been able to agree on the principle of trying to overthrow Mr Al Assad but little else, its members more occupied with power plays against one another than in uniting in pursuit of their common cause.
This week the European Council for Foreign Relations issued a report cautioning that a worsening conflict was in urgent need of de-escalation, something requiring difficult compromises and "a grand regional bargain".
"The real choice is now between two unsavoury paths: a full-scale intervention and a commitment to real diplomacy," the report said, urging the latter.
Yesterday's rocket strikes in Beirut, and the Hizbollah leader's speech, took the region further away from a peaceful solution.
Just over 18 months ago Mr Al Assad predicted a regional war, "an earthquake", if attempts to overthrow his regime continued.
With the tremors of recent days that forecast - or threat - seems ever more prescient.
psands@thenational.ae
twitter: For breaking news from the Gulf, the Middle East and around the globe follow The National World. Follow us
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3EName%3A%20DarDoc%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Samer%20Masri%2C%20Keswin%20Suresh%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%24800%2C000%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Flat6Labs%2C%20angel%20investors%20%2B%20Incubated%20by%20Hub71%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi's%20Department%20of%20Health%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%2010%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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
%3Cp%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenationalnews.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fislamic-economy-consumer-spending-to-increase-45-to-3-2tn-by-2024-1.936583%22%20target%3D%22_self%22%3EGlobal%20Islamic%20economy%20to%20grow%203.1%25%20to%20touch%20%242.4%20trillion%20by%202024%3C%2Fa%3E%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenationalnews.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fuk-economy-plunges-into-worst-ever-recession-after-record-20-4-contraction-1.1062560%22%20target%3D%22_self%22%3EUK%20economy%20plunges%20into%20worst-ever%20recession%20after%20record%2020.4%25%20contraction%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenationalnews.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fislamic-economy-consumer-spending-to-increase-45-to-3-2tn-by-2024-1.936583%22%20target%3D%22_self%22%3EIslamic%20economy%20consumer%20spending%20to%20increase%2045%25%20to%20%243.2tn%20by%202024%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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.
Tips for used car buyers
- Choose cars with GCC specifications
- Get a service history for cars less than five years old
- Don’t go cheap on the inspection
- Check for oil leaks
- Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
- Do your due diligence. Get a transfer of ownership done at an official RTA centre
- Check the vehicle’s condition. You don’t want to buy a car that’s a good deal but ends up costing you Dh10,000 in repairs every month
- Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
- If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell
Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com
The biog
Year of birth: 1988
Place of birth: Baghdad
Education: PhD student and co-researcher at Greifswald University, Germany
Hobbies: Ping Pong, swimming, reading
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
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
Avatar%20(2009)
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJames%20Cameron%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESam%20Worthington%2C%20Zoe%20Saldana%2C%20Sigourney%20Weaver%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
