Among the many homes and buildings damaged by the Beirut explosion were the Sursock Palace and Museum. The 19th-century palace was once one of Beirut’s grandest town houses, and the mansion housing the museum was left to the city of Beirut in 1952
Continue reading...Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa
3,000 sheep die after live exports rejected by Saudi Arabia
Animals died of hunger and thirst after 58,000 returned to Sudan due to quarantine compromise
Around 3,000 sheep sent back from Saudi Arabia by ship to Sudan have died of hunger and thirst according to a Sudanese government minister. Some drowned on the voyage.
Saudi Arabia returned 58,000 sheep to Sudan after finding out that quarantine procedures in Sudan had been compromised, leaving some animals without vaccination against diseases including Rift Valley fever.
Continue reading...Hidden survivors of sexual violence during Syria’s war must not be left behind
Support for abused men, trans women and non-binary people is urgently needed
Yousef, a 28-year-old gay man, was raped by Syrian intelligence agents who had detained him for participating in protests during the conflict in Syria. He fled to Lebanon, but found only limited services to help him deal with the traumatic aftermath. By the time I interviewed him, he was resettled in the Netherlands. Geographically speaking, he was away from all the violence, but it still haunted him. “I look behind me when I am walking,” he told me. “I still wake up at night. It [the trauma] is not over.”
Yousef is one of dozens of sexual violence survivors from Syria whom I interviewed for Human Rights Watch. I found that since the beginning of the Syrian conflict men and boys – in addition to women and girls – have been subjected to sexual violence, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, by both government agents and non-government actors.
Continue reading...Looted landmarks: how Notre-Dame, Big Ben and St Mark’s were stolen from the east
They are beacons of western civilisation. But, says an explosive new book, the designs of Europe’s greatest buildings were plundered from the Islamic world – twin towers, rose windows, vaulted ceilings and all
As Notre-Dame cathedral was engulfed by flames last year, thousands bewailed the loss of this great beacon of western civilisation. The ultimate symbol of French cultural identity, the very heart of the nation, was going up in smoke. But Middle East expert Diana Darke was having different thoughts. She knew that the origins of this majestic gothic pile lay not in the pure annals of European Christian history, as many have always assumed, but in the mountainous deserts of Syria, in a village just west of Aleppo to be precise.
“Notre-Dame’s architectural design, like all gothic cathedrals in Europe, comes directly from Syria’s Qalb Lozeh fifth-century church,” Darke tweeted on the morning of 16 April, as the dust was still settling in Paris. “Crusaders brought the ‘twin tower flanking the rose window’ concept back to Europe in the 12th century.”
Continue reading...Social media users inspire outrage against Egypt’s alleged sexual abusers
Survivors who say alleged assailants go unpunished have begun publicly shaming them online
Egypt is witnessing a wave of online outrage targeting rape culture and sexual assault, as survivors use social media to shame alleged abusers and demand change.
A growing number of social media accounts gather survivors’ testimony and attempt to shame alleged attackers, angry at elite perpetrators they say routinely go unpunished.
Continue reading...Chronic corruption and dirty tricks: Beirutis demand lasting change
Many in Lebanon hope a new government of national unity will pave the way for reform after last week’s explosion
In the wake of Lebanese prime minister Hassan Diab’s announcement that his government will resign, the country has been left wondering whether the explosion that decimated Beirut is also strong enough to uproot Lebanon’s rotten political system.
In a televised address on Monday night after more than a third of ministers quit their posts, forcing him to do the same, Diab said that the corruption of the country’s entrenched ruling class “created this tragedy” but avoided taking personal responsibility.
Continue reading...If ever there was a moment for change in Lebanon, this must surely be it
Without a radical overhaul the next government could look like the one that resigned
Like a break in a merciless heatwave, the fall of Lebanon’s failed government has reduced by a few degrees the political temperature in the country’s towns and cities. One week after the enormous explosion that levelled much of Beirut, its rulers have rightly paid a price. The power of the street had exposed the fragility of Lebanese leaders. Impunity hadn’t won the day after all.
But what seemed like much needed relief is more likely to be the start of a familiar pattern; the same line up of ministers who quit in disgrace will now take on a caretaker role, while those who really control the country haggle over the next incarnation of a government that is likely to look very similar to the one that has just resigned.
Continue reading...After the Beirut explosion: anger, grief and the fall of the government – podcast
It is a week since the devastating explosion rocked Beirut, killing more than 200 people. As shock turns to anger and the cabinet resigns, Bethan McKernan and Martin Chulov report on what comes next for the Lebanese people
The deadly explosion that ripped through Beirut last week has left more than 200 people dead, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes. The blast happened in a summer of already simmering tension in Lebanon as an economic crisis has taken a devastating toll on the country.
The Guardian’s Martin Chulov, who is based in Beirut, describes the moment his apartment was rocked by the blast – and what he witnessed that day. He tells Mythili Rao the scenes were apocalyptic, and worsened the closer he walked to the site of the explosion at the city’s docks.
Continue reading...Lebanese government quits following Beirut port explosion
PM Hassan Diab forced to exit, saying the corruption is ‘bigger than the state’
Lebanon’s besieged government has fallen, one week after a cataclysmic explosion destroyed Beirut port, with the country’s prime minister, Hassan Diab, claiming the disaster was the result of endemic corruption.
Diab announced the resignation of the government after more than a third of ministers quit their posts, forcing Diab himself to resign.
Continue reading...Lebanon’s political corruption can be rooted out – if its international donors insist | Lina Khatib
Change must come from within Lebanon, but Emmanuel Macron and others can help by ending their patronage of a disastrous regime
In the aftermath of the devastating Beirut port explosion last week, it is not just the role of the Lebanese political class that has come under scrutiny, but that of their international peers too. Sunday’s international donor conference led by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, raised €253m (£228m) in relief funds, but it also signalled an important change in rhetoric. For the first time, donors affirmed that relief funds would directly go to the Lebanese people, and that longer-term economic assistance would be dependent on Lebanon implementing structural reforms.
This affirmation came hot on the heels of growing international attention on rampant corruption among Lebanon’s ruling political class, which is widely blamed for the port explosion. It sends the message to Lebanon’s rulers that, while their country desperately needs foreign assistance to stand on its feet, no one can help Lebanon if it does not also help itself. But the communique issued following the conference glossed over the international community’s own role in sustaining Lebanon’s corrupt political class over a period of decades. At the aid conference, Macron said that Lebanon’s future is at stake. What donors need to recognise is that this future is a shared responsibility for them and Lebanon’s leaders alike.
Continue reading...Beirut blast: judge questions security chiefs as third minister resigns
Investigation focusing on why chemicals were stored at port for six years despite warnings
A Lebanese judge has begun questioning the heads of the country’s security agencies over last week’s devastating blast in Beirut, as another cabinet minister resigned in protest.
Judge Ghassan El Khoury began by questioning Maj Gen Tony Saliba, the head of state security, according to the state-run National News Agency. It gave no further details, but other generals are scheduled to be questioned.
Continue reading...Beirut: protesters clash with police outside Lebanon’s parliamentary precinct – video
Thousands of protesters have taken to the parliamentary precinct in the capital demanding the fall of the government days after a major explosion rocked Beirut, killing 159 people injuring more than 6,000. The protests began at sunset and continued into the night, with demonstrators clashing with police and soldiers. The demonstrations come as two government ministers and a string of MPs resigned from their posts, loosening the government's already parlous grip on power
Continue reading...Beirut explosion: protests outside parliament call for fall of government
Clashes broke out between rioters and police as global donors pledged recovery aid
Thousands of protesters pelted Lebanon’s parliamentary precinct with rocks on Sunday, demanding the fall of the government in the wake of the catastrophic blast that destroyed parts of Beirut last week.
The violent rally took place around sunset, as an international donor conference launched to fund the enormous cost of recovery resolved that the country would not be abandoned.
Continue reading...Beirut blast: Lebanese minister announces resignation – video
Lebanon’s information minister, Manal Abdel Samad, has quit in the first government resignation since an explosion in the port of Beirut killed more than 150 people and destroyed large parts of the capital. She apologised to the Lebanese public for failing them in her statement
Continue reading...Beirut explosion: drone footage reveals scale of damage to homes – video
The destruction caused by last week's explosion in Beirut is visible in drone footage shot in devastated neighbourhoods. The close-up footage shows buildings reduced to rubble and homes rendered uninhabitable. The explosion in the city's port killed at least 154 people, injured 6,000 and damaged large parts of the city. Officials say the blast, which was felt hundreds of miles away, could have caused damages worth as much as £11.5bn
- Beirut recovery effort gathers pace amid growing anger at Lebanon's leaders
- Chain reaction: disaster hastens Lebanon’s moment of reckoning
Chain reaction: disaster hastens Lebanon’s moment of reckoning
A corruption-riddled government has presided over rising poverty for decades. Could the anger released after the catastrophe in Beirut’s docks finally topple it?
The first violent jolt seemed like a neighbourhood accident; a blown generator, or a car crash. Five seconds later, the thundering secondary blast arrived; a crushing surge of energy that instantly sucked the air out of the city, then plunged it back with devastating weight. Giant shards of debris blew through rooms, door frames collapsed and furniture became missiles – all in what seemed like a paralysing slow motion.
A deathly still followed, and then came a cascade of shattered glass from what appeared to be every home, or tower block; hundreds of thousands of panes and pieces falling to earth at once. Many who survived the blast wave did not live beyond the seconds that followed. Days later, giant pools and trails of blood littered pavements and roads, each telling their own tale of life or death in Beirut’s apocalypse. When the glass stopped falling, the screaming started. A yellow pall of dust, smoke and chemicals shrouded the eastern suburbs.
Continue reading...Juan Carlos, Spain’s disgraced former king, may be in Abu Dhabi, reports suggest
A week after going into exile, the scandal-hit former monarch is said to be staying in a $12,000-a-night suite in the Emirates palace hotel
At first it was Portugal, then the Dominican Republic, but now Abu Dhabi is firming as the most likely place of residence for Spain’s scandal-hit former king Juan Carlos.
On Saturday, Spain’s NIUS media group published an image that showed a man with at least the likeness of Juan Carlos in a face mask, descending from a plane.
Continue reading...Saudi ex-spy suing crown prince faces fresh death threat in Canada – report
Canada reportedly increases security around Saad Aljabri, who is suing Prince Mohammed bin Salman over alleged 2018 assassination attempt
A former senior Saudi intelligence official who has accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of trying to have him assassinated in 2018 has been placed under heightened security after a new threat on his life, a Canadian newspaper has reported.
The Globe and Mail said Canadian security services had been informed of a new attempted attack on Saad Aljabri, who lives at an undisclosed location in the Toronto region.
Continue reading...Beirut police fire teargas at protesters demanding justice over explosion
Thousands turn out to call for accountability for one of world’s biggest non-nuclear blasts
Police fired teargas at protesters in Beirut on Saturday after thousands turned out in the city centre to demand accountability for one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions the world has seen.
Driven by anger at the corruption and incompetence that appears to have fostered Wednesday’s tragedy, a crowd gathered in Martyrs Square, where activists have erected a mock gallows for Lebanon’s top politicians.
Continue reading...Mogadishu car bomb kills eight soldiers at military base
Somalia-based al-Shabaab group claims blast that leaves 14 wounded
A car bomb has exploded at the gates of a military base in Mogadishu, killing at least eight soldiers and wounding 14.
The extremist group al-Shabaab, linked with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility via its radio arm, Andalus. The group often targets military sites in Mogadishu and controls large parts of southern and central Somalia, with little sign of being hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.
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