From the UN General Assembly podium in New York, Jordan's King Abdullah II this week declared his country “will not have the ability or the resources to care for more” Syrian refugees.
The declaration, made on the soil of one of Amman's strongest allies, came as Syrian Americans are pushing Washington to do more to support refugee resettlement.
Washington's intake of Syrian refugees has significantly increased in recent years, and the US is now piloting a refugee resettlement programme that could benefit Syrians in Jordan, a State Department official told The National.
In fiscal year 2022, the US approved more than 4,500 Syrians for resettlement, an increase of about a thousand over the previous year.
The State Department official added that, “as of September 19, 9,456 Syrians have resettled in the United States during this fiscal year alone, accounting for almost 17 per cent of all refugee arrivals in FY 2023".
But that pales in comparison to the almost 29,000 Syrian refugees who are “in the pipeline” for US approval, according to a State Department report to Congress on refugee admissions.
The US-based Multifaith Alliance, a non-profit organisation that represents “the largest interfaith response to the Syrian crisis with more than 100 faith-based and secular partners”, is lobbying to expand Syrian refugee admissions.
It argues that “American resettlement policy is intentionally rigged against Syrians” and that “high hurdles for Syrian refugees remain the backdrop as US resettlement programmes are rolled out and touted”.
This year, Washington launched the Welcome Corps, a domestic assistance programme that allows private sponsors to support refugees arriving in the US after being approved for resettlement through its Refugee Admissions Programme.
Refugee advocates hailed the programme as a “once-in-a-generation” policy landmark.
And later, the programme added Welcome Corps on Campus, a “targeted education sponsorship initiative that enables US colleges and universities to play a leading role in resettling refugee students”.
But those programmes were initially limited to refugees coming from sub-Saharan Africa, excluding Syrians, who represent 6.8 million of the world's designated refugee population, according to the UN refugee agency.
The Welcome Corps recently expanded beyond that region, but Shadi Martini, the Multifaith Alliance's chief executive, said challenges for Syrian access remain, including the requirement that they already have refugee status.
“This is becoming very hard for a lot of Syrians. A lot of neighbouring countries have closed their borders to any new refugees even though the conflict continues,” he told The National.
The State Department official said the Welcome Corps on Campus programme is now “being piloted” for Kenya and Jordan.
“Given that some 90 per cent of refugees residing in Jordan are Syrian nationals, it is likely that Syrians will be among the initial beneficiaries of this programme. After the pilot period ends, we plan to expand Welcome Corps on Campus globally as well,” the official added.
The Welcome Corp's own website features a story of a Syrian American, something that took Mr Martini by surprise, since likely “very few” Syrians have entered the US through the programme so far.
The State Department did not respond to questions about how many Syrians have entered the US through the Welcome Corps to date.
The State Department said that it will make eligibility information for Welcome Corp's Phase 2, which allows private sponsors to identify a specific refugee or refugee family overseas whom they wish to sponsor, which will be available “later this year”, the official told The National.
Phase 2 “will be a huge service to a lot of these families that want to unite with their loved one or family members that are still there to sponsor them to come to the United States”, Mr Martini said.
For the Syrians already in the pipeline, “a lot of them have been vetted and waiting for sometimes three, four years and even more to get approval for the United States”, he added.
Fiscal year 2016 saw the largest number of Syrian refugees admitted to the US, at more than 12,000, but the election of Donald Trump to the presidency that year stalled Washington's trajectory on refugee admissions, particularly for Syrians.
“When the Biden administration came into office, the system was almost dismantled, so they had to rebuild it again,” Mr Martini said.
But Syrian Americans' patience is waning, as the end of President Joe Biden's first term draws closer.
“I can understand the first year. But now it's been three years since Biden ministration is in charge of this system, and it's not working,” Mr Martini said.
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
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- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
The five pillars of Islam
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Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
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Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
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Iraq negotiating over Iran sanctions impact
- US sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and exports took effect on Monday, November 5.
- Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
- Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
- Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped last month at a record 4.78 million barrels a day, former Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Oct. 20. Iraq exported 3.83 million barrels a day last month, according to tanker tracking and data from port agents.
- Iraq has been working to restore production at its northern Kirkuk oil field. Kirkuk could add 200,000 barrels a day of oil to Iraq’s total output, Hook said.
- The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
- Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.
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
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
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Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
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THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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
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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
