Russia’s quest for Mideast influence hindered by renewed fighting in Syria (The Wall Street Journal)
“Russia is finding that keeping the peace in Syria is harder than fighting its civil war, as a fierce assault by Syrian forces on a rebel-held town erodes Moscow’s aim to cement itself as a major power broker in the Middle East.” Read more
For Syrian victims of the Beirut port explosion, a year of grief and rage
03 August 2021
From Ottoman Syria to Argentina
02 August 2021
A year after the Beirut blast, subsidy cuts compound Lebanon’s desperation (The New Humanitarian)
“One year after an explosion tore through Beirut’s port, killing 218 people, injuring thousands, and destroying a large part of the capital, the city and country are struggling to bounce back. Politicians have failed to form a new government after it resigned following the 4 August 2020 blast, and there has been no meaningful investigation into the root causes of the catastrophe.” Read more
9 short stories by Sudanese and South Sudanese women, in translation (Arablit)
“The sands lolled and swam in the sun’s blazing rays all day, then when darkness fell, they patiently waited for the sun to rise. As far as the eye could see, the sands swelled in every direction, wild and silent. It even felt like they were stealthily watching us. Everyone except the leader and I slept like the dead. We had walked barefoot the whole day, but the journey ahead was still long. The sun had hollowed faces and etched deep lines; lips were painted the color of ash.” Read more
Beirut 2020: Diary of the collapse (Guernica)
“I first thought that the sudden disappearance of all those anti-mosquito coils you burn to get rid of insects was linked to the general shortages in the supermarkets. Then Nayla made me realize that it probably had more to do with the fact that it was impossible for many households to use the usual devices that you plug into a power socket, since there is hardly ever any electricity at all in many neighborhoods, especially at night. So we’re back to using the good old burning coils, which have now disappeared from the market because of high demand — collateral damage of the economic crisis, but also of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Read more
