Why Syria’s cultural heritage continues to face a looming threat

Special Why Syria’s cultural heritage continues to face a looming threat
The director of Syria's Antiquities Department Maamun Abdul-Karim shows rare two busts rescued from the Daesh group in the ancient city of Palmyra (L) and others awaiting to be restored after they were returned to the National Museum in Damascus on March 1, 2017. (AFP/File)
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Updated 07 July 2025
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Why Syria’s cultural heritage continues to face a looming threat

Why Syria’s cultural heritage continues to face a looming threat
  • Archaeological sites across war-devasted country increasingly vulnerable to looting and vandalism
  • Economic desperation and lawlessness take hold from the ruins of Palmyra to remote coastal regions

LONDON: Across Syria, looters are disturbing ancient graves and buried treasures, tearing through layers of history to steal artifacts hidden for thousands of years. Day and night, the earth trembles not from bombs or shellfire but from the strikes of pickaxes and jackhammers. 

Since the collapse of Bashar Assad regime’s control last December, Syria’s cultural heritage has come under increasing threat. Looting has surged across the country, from the famed ruins of Palmyra to remote coastal regions, as economic desperation and lawlessness take hold.

In January, images circulating on social media showed looting and vandalism at the museum on Arwad Island, off the coast of Tartus. At least 38 artifacts were reportedly stolen — pieces that told the story of a civilization now at risk of being erased.

Local news media in Syria and Lebanon, citing unnamed sources, reported that unknown individuals raided the museum following the regime’s loss of security control on December 8.




Visitors tour the antiquities museum in the Syrian capital Damascus on October 28, 2018. Syria reopened a wing of the capital's famed antiquities museum on that date after six years of closure to protect its exhibits from the civil war. (Louai Beshara / AFP)

According to Amr Al-Azm, an archaeologist and co-director of the Antiquities Trafficking and Heritage Anthropology Research (ATHAR) project, three key factors are fueling the surge in looting: demand, economic collapse and breakdown of law and order in many areas.

“First, there’s the persistent and growing demand,” Al-Azm told Arab News. “This is fundamentally a supply-and-demand issue: conflict zones like Syria make up the supply side, while the demand largely comes from North America and Western Europe.”

Artifacts flow into black markets because buyers exist — whether motivated by profit or a misguided belief that they are preserving history, Al-Azm said.

“Regardless of intent,” he said, “both groups fuel demand, which perpetuates the problem.”

FAST FACTS

• Electronic treasure-hunting devices are openly sold in major Syrian cities, with looted artifacts advertised on social media.

• All six of Syria’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites were declared endangered in 2013 due to widespread looting and destruction.

(Sources: International Council of Museums, UNESCO)

The second driver is what Al-Azm calls “treasure-hunting fever,” a phenomenon that extends far beyond Syria but has intensified amid the country’s post-regime economic collapse.

“When people lose their livelihoods, they seek alternative ways to survive,” he said. “If they know — or even believe — that something valuable is buried nearby, they’ll dig for it in hopes of supplementing their income.”

This desperation may also be accompanied by a misguided sense of entitlement. Many Syrians, Al-Azm explained, believe these artifacts rightfully belong to them, especially given how corrupt officials from the ousted regime hoarded or sold cultural property for personal gain.




Amr Al-Azm, an archaeologist and co-director of the ATHAR project. (Supplied)

“When a government is widely seen as corrupt, and its officials and employees are perceived to be stealing constantly, that belief becomes ingrained,” he said. “People begin to think: Why should I let the government take this? They’re just going to steal or sell it anyway.”

He added that for many Syrians, that legacy of corruption reinforces a personal claim: “This artifact is coming from my land, my backyard, my village — why shouldn’t I have a claim to it?”

The third factor is institutional collapse. As government structures and enforcement mechanisms fell apart, they left a vacuum.

“In many areas, the absence of enforcement has created a vacuum,” Al-Azm said. “Following the regime’s collapse, people often reverted to the opposite mindset: if something was banned before, it’s now assumed to be permitted.

“That shift in perception has contributed to the surge in looting activity.”




Central zone of the mosaic from Apamea. (Re)foundation of Pella/Apamea-on-the-Orontes by Seleucus I Nikator and the donation of Apama for the development and fortification of the town. The representation of the town of Apamea shows its main buildings. Anonymous photographer, image modified and sharpened by D. Zielińska. (Source: https://popular-archaeology.com/article/wanted-a-remarkable-piece-of-his...)

While the current crisis has intensified looting, the plundering of Syria's antiquities predates the civil war that began in 2011, revealing a deeper, long-standing crisis threatening the nation’s cultural legacy.

“Looting is an age-old global phenomenon,” Al-Azm said. “Since humans began burying their dead with valuables, others have sought to dig them up and recover those treasures.”

Since 2011, the civil war has shattered Syrian society — dividing communities along social, economic, sectarian and geographic lines. Cultural heritage, Al-Azm said, was an early casualty.

“This war has deeply damaged Syrian society,” he said. “And cultural heritage has been a casualty from the very beginning.”




An image made available by propaganda Islamist media outlet Welayat Halab on July 2, 2015 allegedly shows a Daesh militant in Manbij near Aleppo destroying ancient artifacts looted from the Syrian city of Palmyra. (AFP/File)

Today, efforts to recover stolen artifacts face daunting challenges. Investigators must navigate deeply entrenched smuggling networks that, for more than a decade, have trafficked Syria’s cultural legacy into black markets around the world.

With over 10,000 archaeological sites vulnerable to illegal digs, the fight to protect Syria’s heritage is now a fight to preserve its identity.

In 2020, the UN agency for education, science and culture, UNESCO, warned of “industrial-scale” looting in Syria, citing satellite images showing thousands of illegal excavations. Irina Bokova, UNESCO’s director-general, also highlighted links between antiquities trafficking and funding for extremist groups, urging swift global action to halt the trade.

Among the most widespread forms of theft is “subsistence looting,” in which locals dig for artifacts to survive.

“In Syria, many people live on, next to, or very close to archaeological sites, so they’re well aware that valuable artifacts may be buried nearby,” Al-Azm said. “Often, these sites have been previously excavated or are active dig locations with foreign — usually Western — archaeological missions, sometimes in partnership with Syrian teams.

“Locals are often hired as laborers on these missions, which gives them both familiarity with the landscape and exposure to the types of objects that may be found underground.”

 

 

In May, a video surfaced online showing content creators using metal detectors to search for artifacts in an old home in Deraa, southern Syria. The homeowner had reportedly contacted them after making a discovery beneath the house.

The video, shared on YouTube by the channel NewDose, included a promotion for a metal detector company and ended with the unearthing of ancient copper and gold coins. It also claimed the homeowner had previously uncovered a church beneath the property.

Al-Azm believes that social media has worsened the looting crisis. “With platforms like Facebook, people can easily post finds, ask questions, and buy or sell looted antiquities — all in the open. It’s made the situation increasingly unmanageable,” he said.

He noted that traffickers and looters often operate within Facebook groups. “Right now, we monitor more than 550 groups just in the MENA region — and many of them are huge. Some have 100,000 members, others 500,000, and one group has even surpassed a million members,” he said.

Syria, often referred to as the cradle of civilization, was home to some of the world’s earliest cities and innovations. From Ebla and Mari to Ugarit, these ancient societies helped shape governance, language, trade and urban life. Their legacy is now at risk of being lost forever.




Relief depicting the deity Asadu on horseback followed by Sadai holding a shield from Dura Europos, Syria. Mesopotamian civilization, 3rd century BC. Damascus. (Archaeological And Art Museum) (Getty Images)

Alongside small-scale looting, Syria also faces more organized theft. These crimes are carried out by longstanding trafficking networks and criminal groups that view cultural property as a highly lucrative commodity.

Al-Azm pointed out that many of these long-standing trafficking networks “have operated in the region for decades, if not centuries.”

“These groups engage in a range of criminal activities, including the looting and trafficking of antiquities, because it’s highly profitable,” he said. “The sale of cultural property generates significant revenue, making it an attractive enterprise for such networks.”

As looters continue to chip away at Syria’s cultural identity, the global community faces a crucial test: whether to act decisively or stand by as one of the world’s oldest cultural legacies disappears — artifact by artifact, site by site.

To confront this growing crisis, Al-Azm says Syria will need comprehensive international support — both from its archaeologists and heritage experts, many now scattered across the diaspora, and from global institutions ready to take necessary action.




Replicas of the 9th century BC figures from Tell Halaf archaeological site at the entrance of the National Museum in Aleppo, Syria. (Getty Images)

Central to that support, Al-Azm noted, is the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums in Damascus, the national institution tasked with protecting Syria’s cultural heritage. “That includes supporting the institution responsible for overseeing this work,” he said.

During the conflict, much of the burden of preservation fell to NGOs, local communities, and individual stakeholders. Al-Azm emphasized that these grassroots actors played a crucial role in protecting Syria’s heritage when official capacity was limited.

“These groups played a vital role, and we should continue to encourage, support, and facilitate their efforts moving forward,” he said.

Legal experts echo the need for a multilayered response. Amir Farhadi, a US-based international disputes and human rights lawyer, points to international law as a critical line of defense against antiquities trafficking.

“The main pillar of the international legal framework is the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, which was adopted through UNESCO in 1970,” Farhadi told Arab News.

Syria is among the many countries that have ratified the convention, which aims both to deter the theft of cultural property and to facilitate its return when stolen.




View of Syria's Arwad island in the Mediterranean off Tartus, site of the museum that was looted and vandalized. (AFP)

Farhadi noted that while the Convention and similar treaties are not retroactive, they remain effective tools for addressing recent crimes.

“The more recent the theft of cultural property, the more robust the legal framework for its restitution,” he said. “This is good news for Syria, since most antiquities trafficking that took place during the war years would fall within the scope of the 1970 convention.”

He contrasted Syria’s position with that of countries seeking the return of colonial-era artifacts. “For example,” he said, “there is no binding legal mechanism applicable to the dispute between Greece and the UK over the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles.

“Instead, the two countries could pursue optional mediation through a specialized UNESCO committee, although the UK has in the past refused.”

In Syria’s case, Farhadi said, additional legal protections specific to Syria were introduced during the height of the looting campaign carried out by the terrorist group Daesh.




A picture shows on March 31, 2016 the remains of Arch of Triumph, also called the Monumental Arch of Palmyra, in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, which was destroyed by Daesh jihadists in 2015. (AFP/File)

In 2015, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2199, calling on all member states to prevent the cross-border trade of Syrian cultural property removed since March 15, 2011. The resolution explicitly urges the return of looted items to the Syrian people.

The urgency behind that resolution was clear. Daesh began in 2014 systematically looting and destroying key cultural sites across Syria, including in Raqqa, Manbij and Palmyra.

Between 2014 and 2017, the group’s occupation of territory marked the most intense period of destruction, targeting museums, tombs and archaeological landmarks.

IN NUMBERS

900+ Syrian monuments and archaeological sites looted, damaged, or destroyed from 2011 to 2015.

95 Facebook groups trading Syrian antiquities in 2019.

(Sources: Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology, ATHAR Project)

Still, Farhadi cautioned that strong legal frameworks alone are not enough. “While the UNESCO Convention and Security Council Resolution clearly prohibit the international trafficking of Syrian cultural property and require its restitution, enforcement depends on concrete action by individual states,” he said.

“Locating and authenticating stolen heritage is not straightforward,” Farhadi said. “It requires cooperation among stakeholders — law enforcement in both the source and destination countries, museums and auction houses willing to conduct due diligence, and authorities in the country of origin.”

In Syria’s case, the challenge is immense, he added. “There are reports of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of looted objects that entered the black market over the past decade.”

“But how do you differentiate a Bronze Age figurine looted by Daesh from one that entered the market legally decades ago? That’s where provenance becomes critical — and where trafficking networks try to exploit gaps.”

Verifying authenticity often depends on access to site inventories and museum records — information that only Syrian authorities and cultural institutions can provide.

“Mechanisms like the Red Lists published by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) are helpful,” Farhadi said. “But the danger is for less high-profile objects, or those for which records were lost during the war.”




Locals view from above the site of the discovery announced by Syria's General Directorate of Antiquities of a mosaic floor dating to the Roman era being excavated in the city of al-Rastan in Syria's west-central province of Homs on October 12, 2022. (AFP)

In his view, success hinges on diplomacy. “Cooperation must happen at the highest levels — bilaterally between Syria and countries where trafficked objects end up, and multilaterally through organizations like UNESCO,” he said.

“This would require the new government to prioritize this issue, which of course is much easier said than done in this time of transition,” he added.

Farhadi believes the responsibility also lies with international organizations. “UNESCO has the responsibility — if not the obligation — to support Syria in setting up concrete mechanisms to facilitate the restitution of property,” he said.

“Back in 2015,” he added, “the Security Council expressly called on UNESCO to do this.”

While past collaboration was often hindered by international reluctance to engage with the Assad regime, Farhadi said that obstacle is no longer relevant.

“With the political landscape shifting, the goodwill to support Syria in this transition could finally jump-start new multilateral efforts to recover and restore its looted heritage,” he said.

 




Syrian soldiers stand guard outside the entrance of Aleppo's national archaeological museum which was reopened on October 24, 2019 after restoration and renovation work, following six years of closure due to the ongoing conflict in Syria. (AFP)

Al-Azm, the archaeologist, emphasized the broader significance of heritage in rebuilding Syrian society. “Cultural heritage has a critical role in enhancing the Syrian identity,” he said.

He envisions a new, inclusive Syrian identity that moves beyond the ideologies of the past. “It’s going to be a new Syrian identity, unlike the previous one that was heavily infused with ideologies like Baathism, Pan-Arabism and Nazism, and even at one point Islamism, if we were to go there.”

“We need a national identity rooted in shared history and common aspirations, free from ethnic, sectarian or tribal divisions,” Al-Azm said. “Preserving what remains of Syria’s decimated ancient sites — like Dura-Europos, Apamea and the Dead Cities — is essential.”

“These remnants of the past,” he added, “can help forge a unified future for Syrians. Protecting our heritage is ultimately about protecting our future.”

 

 


Thousands in Morocco call for end to Gaza war

Thousands in Morocco call for end to Gaza war
Updated 21 July 2025
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Thousands in Morocco call for end to Gaza war

Thousands in Morocco call for end to Gaza war
  • Morocco and Israel in 2020 signed a US-brokered normalization deal, which has increasingly come under attack in the North African kingdom as the war in Gaza rages into its 22nd month

RABAT: Tens of thousands of Moroccans demonstrated Sunday in the capital Rabat against the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for the reversal of the kingdom’s normalization deal with Israel.

Protesters gathered in the city center, brandishing Palestinian flags and placards calling for the free flow of aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

“It’s a disgrace, Gaza is under fire,” “Lift the blockade,” “Morocco, Palestine, one people” and “no to normalization,” chanted the demonstrators.

They had gathered at the call of various organizations, including a coalition bringing together the Islamist movement Al-Adl Wal-Ihssane and left-wing parties.

Moroccans wave Palestinian flags during a march to express their solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Rabat on July 19, 2025. (AFP)

The war in Gaza, sparked by militant group Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people who live in the coastal territory.

Most people have been displaced at least once by the fighting, and doctors and aid agencies say they were seeing the physical and mental health effects of 21 months of war, including more acute malnutrition.

“Palestinians are being starved and killed before the eyes of the whole world,” said Jamal Behar, one of the demonstrators in Rabat on Sunday.

“It is our duty to denounce this dramatic, unbearable situation.”

Morocco and Israel in 2020 signed a US-brokered normalization deal, which has increasingly come under attack in the North African kingdom as the war in Gaza rages into its 22nd month.

 

 


Israeli evacuation order in central Gaza ‘devastating’ to aid efforts: UN

Israeli evacuation order in central Gaza ‘devastating’ to aid efforts: UN
Updated 21 July 2025
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Israeli evacuation order in central Gaza ‘devastating’ to aid efforts: UN

Israeli evacuation order in central Gaza ‘devastating’ to aid efforts: UN
  • Gaza’s civil defense agency said it has noted a rising number of infant deaths caused by “severe hunger and malnutrition”

UNITED NATIONS, United States: An Israeli military order for residents and displaced people in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah area to move south dealt “another devastating blow” to humanitarian efforts in the war-ravaged territory, the UN’s OCHA aid agency said on Sunday.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs “warns that today’s mass displacement order issued by the Israeli military has dealt yet another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement.

 

 


How ‘catastrophic’ Latakia wildfires deepened Syrians’ suffering

How ‘catastrophic’ Latakia wildfires deepened Syrians’ suffering
Updated 21 July 2025
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How ‘catastrophic’ Latakia wildfires deepened Syrians’ suffering

How ‘catastrophic’ Latakia wildfires deepened Syrians’ suffering
  • Within the first five days, the fires affected more than 5,000 people and displaced at least 1,100 residents
  • Disaster laid bare the interconnected issues that turned a seasonal hazard into a multifaceted calamity

LONDON: Wildfires swept across Syria’s northwestern Latakia province this month, scorching more than 16,000 hectares of forest and farmland, damaging 45 villages, displacing thousands of civilians, and fragmenting the fragile livelihoods of rural communities.

On July 2, fast-moving fires erupted in the mountainous, densely wooded northern countryside of Latakia, escalating rapidly into a full-blown emergency. Fueled by extreme temperatures, dry conditions, and strong seasonal winds, the fires surged across rugged terrain with little resistance.

After nearly two weeks of relentless burning, Syrian authorities declared the fires fully contained on July 15. Firefighting crews from Turkiye, Iraq, Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan joined Syrian civil defense units in the battle to control the flames, which raged through difficult-to-access forested highlands.

At a joint press conference, Latakia Governor Mohammad Othman and Emergency and Disaster Management Minister Raed Al-Saleh outlined the formidable challenges crews faced. These included landmines, unexploded ordnance, winds exceeding 60 kph, and an absence of firebreaks after years of forest neglect.

Although the flames have been extinguished, the crisis is far from over. “The flames are gone, but the mission has just begun,” Al-Saleh said, cautioning that the long-term effects of the fires could endure for years.

Recovery efforts are now focused on rehabilitating burned land and aiding thousands of displaced families.

The fire’s aftermath has compounded an already dire humanitarian crisis in a region battered by more than a decade of war and economic collapse. Entire harvests — a vital source of food and income — have been lost, and returning residents find their homes and farms reduced to ashes.

Among the most severely affected areas are Qastal Maaf, Rabeea, Zinzaf, Al-Ramadiyah, Beer Al-Qasab, Al-Basit and Kassab, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“The humanitarian situation is catastrophic,” said Rima Darious, a Belgium-based activist who is in close contact with communities in the affected areas. “In general, there is extreme poverty in these villages, and people largely live off their land.”

She said houses were destroyed and entire livelihoods wiped out. In Kassab, an Armenian-populated town, “the apple, peach, and nectarine orchards were incinerated,” she said. “After the displacement, there’s nothing left for them.

“Across Latakia’s mountains, people depend on the harvest — they sell it to survive the whole year. They grow vegetables to feed themselves. Now that the crops have burned, it’s a devastating crisis. A disaster.”

By July 7 — just five days into the fires — SARD, a Syrian NGO assisting in the response, cited official estimates that about 5,000 people had been affected, with more than 1,120 displaced. Urgent needs include temporary shelter, clean drinking water, emergency food, hygiene and medical kits, respiratory aid, and psychosocial support.

Darious also warned of a looming hunger emergency. “We’re going to witness a level of hunger never seen before,” she said, adding that widespread damage to beehives — an essential part of local agriculture — has already led to soaring honey prices.

In addition to farming, many locals rely on seasonal tourism. “That source of income is gone too,” she said. “Who’s going to visit a burned forest or mountain? No tourism. No agriculture.”

Despite the scale of destruction, formal relief is limited. “There are no serious efforts to help the affected families — only individual initiatives,” Darious said. “Some local groups are trying to assist specific cases that are worse off than others.”

Compounding the tragedy, the fires were not merely a natural disaster. On July 3, the militant group Ansar Al-Sunnah claimed responsibility for deliberately starting the fires in the Qastal Maaf mountains.

The group said in a statement its intent was to forcibly displace members of the Alawite sect — an ethno-religious community historically aligned with the Assad regime, although many of its members have lived in poverty for decades.

The arson is a chilling escalation in Syria’s ongoing instability, transforming environmental destruction into a weapon of sectarian violence. With villages burned, communities uprooted, and essential industries devastated, the damage extends far beyond ecological loss, deepening the schisms in Syrian society.

The attack followed a surge of violence in March in Syria’s coastal provinces, particularly in Latakia and Tartus‎, where clashes erupted between Assad loyalists and transitional opposition forces. The conflict quickly escalated into sectarian bloodshed.

Human rights observers reported summary executions and house raids in which attackers selected victims based on religious affiliation. Entire Alawite families were reportedly killed, underscoring the deliberate and systematic nature of the violence.

Since then, sectarian tensions have continued to spread. In other parts of the country, Christian communities have faced renewed violence and rising insecurity. High-profile incidents include a deadly bombing at Mar Elias Church in Damascus in June and a wave of arson attacks on Christian homes and churches in Suweida.

In mid-July, the southern city of Suweida and surrounding areas endured intense clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribal fighters. Urban gun battles and retaliatory attacks left more than 300 dead in just two days.

Meanwhile in Latakia, as the smoke begins to clear, displaced families are returning to what little remains.

“People left their homes briefly due to the fire and then returned once it was contained,” said Marwan Al-Rez, head of the Mart volunteer team that supported civil defense and firefighting efforts. “Qastal Maaf was completely burned down. Its people were displaced again — some had only recently returned after the fall of the regime.”

Indeed, OCHA reported that many of the hardest-hit areas were predominantly communities of returning refugees. After the fires, returns have slowed significantly, with a noticeable decline even at the still-operational Kassab border crossing.

Qastal Maaf, a subdistrict of Latakia, comprises 19 localities and had a population close to 17,000 in 2004, according to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics. While the town itself is majority Sunni, surrounding villages are largely Alawite, highlighting the region’s complex sectarian makeup.

On July 9, the UN Satellite Centre released a fire damage assessment based on satellite imagery from a day earlier. The analysis identified burn scars in Qastal Maaf, Rabeea and Kassab — the first satellite overview of the extent of the fire.

Using WorldPop data and mapping the affected zones, UNOSAT estimated that approximately 5,500 people lived in or near the fire-affected areas. About 2,400 buildings may have been exposed to the flames.

UNOSAT stressed that these figures were preliminary and had not yet been validated through on-the-ground assessments at the time of publication.

The physical and environmental toll is staggering.

“Some agricultural lands in Kassab were completely burned,” Al-Rez said. “These were lush with trees — those were lost too.” Civil defense responders also suffered, with injuries including fractures and smoke inhalation.

The fires spread across more than 40 ignition points in the Jabal Al-Akrad and Jabal Turkmen regions, near the Turkish border, according to OCHA. This proximity triggered cross-border aerial firefighting efforts.

Efforts to contain the fires were hampered by high winds, soaring temperatures, and more than a decade of war-related damage.

“Excessive winds, high temperatures, and prolonged drought conditions have created a runaway disaster with no signs of slowing down,” said Abdulkarim Ekzayez, Syria country director for Action for Humanity, on July 6.

Further complicating the mission were “14 years’ worth of unexploded remnants of war — landmines and bombs — that litter the country, threatening the lives of both emergency response crews and civilians evacuating,” Ekzayez added.

Action for Humanity sent teams to deliver water and fuel and to coordinate volunteers, who provided food and helped evacuate residents overcome by heat or smoke.

“The fire was spreading uncontrollably,” Al-Rez said. “It would leap across valleys and mountains, burning entire peaks in half an hour. Helicopters were the only way to reach many places.

“It was a terrifying and awe-inspiring sight,” he added, describing how entire mountainsides lit up in minutes.

Alongside these organizations, the Red Crescent and Syrian American Medical Society were among several aid groups mobilized to assist.

Beyond the human toll, the fires have wrecked Syria’s ecosystems. “The consequences of the fires are severe for both humans and the environment,” Majd Suleiman, head of the Forestry Directorate, told local media.

Syria’s forests are home to aromatic trees used in industry and to shelter wildlife. They also play a role in regulating rainfall, humidity and temperatures.

Images and reports on social and traditional media show the broader ecological devastation — charred landscapes littered with dead deer, ducks, turtles and other animals.

As Syria begins the long process of recovery, the wildfires have laid bare the interconnected crises of conflict, climate and displacement, turning a seasonal hazard into a multifaceted catastrophe. 

 

 


Children most affected by worsening malnutrition in Gaza Strip

Children most affected by worsening malnutrition in Gaza Strip
Updated 20 July 2025
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Children most affected by worsening malnutrition in Gaza Strip

Children most affected by worsening malnutrition in Gaza Strip
  • The UN’s World Food Programme warned in early July that the price of flour for bread was 3,000 times more expensive than before the war began more than 21 months ago

NUSEIRAT: As malnutrition surges in war-torn Gaza, tens of thousands of children and women require urgent treatment, according to the UN, while aid enters the blockaded Palestinian territory at a trickle.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said it has noted a rising number of infant deaths caused by “severe hunger and malnutrition,” reporting at least three such deaths in the past week.

“These heartbreaking cases were not caused by direct bombing but by starvation, the lack of baby formula and the absence of basic health care,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.

FASTFACT

MSF said that patients at its Gaza clinics do not heal properly from their wounds due to protein deficiency.

Ziad Musleh, a 45-year-old father displaced from Gaza’s north to the central city of Nuseirat, said: “We are dying, our children are dying and we can’t do anything to stop it.”

“Our children cry and scream for food. They go to sleep in pain, in hunger, with empty stomachs. There is absolutely no food.

“And if by chance a small amount appears in the market, the prices are outrageous — no one can afford it.”

At a food distribution site in a UN-school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat on Sunday, children entertained themselves by banging on their plates as they waited for their turn.

Several of them had faces stretched thin by hunger, a journalist reported.

Umm Sameh Abu Zeina, whose cheekbones protruded from her thin face as she waited for food in Nuseirat, said she had lost 35 kg.

“We do not eat enough. I don’t eat, I leave the food I receive for my daughter,” she said, adding that she had a range of health conditions, including high blood pressure and diabetes.

Gazans as well as the UN and aid organizations frequently complain that depleted stocks have sent prices skyrocketing for what little food is available in the markets.

The UN’s World Food Programme warned in early July that the price of flour for bread was 3,000 times more expensive than before the war began more than 21 months ago.

WFP director Carl Skau, who visited Gaza City in early July, described the situation as “the worst I’ve ever seen.”

“A father I met had lost 25 kg in the past two months. People are starving, while we have food just across the border,” he said. “Our kitchens are empty; they are now serving hot water with a bit of pasta floating in it,” said Skau.

The effects of malnutrition on children and pregnant women can be particularly dire.

 


European powers plan fresh nuclear talks with Iran

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, flanked by Germany’s Foreign Minister.
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, flanked by Germany’s Foreign Minister.
Updated 20 July 2025
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European powers plan fresh nuclear talks with Iran

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, flanked by Germany’s Foreign Minister.
  • Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported that Tehran had agreed to hold talks with the three European countries, citing unnamed source

BERLIN: European powers plan fresh talks with Iran on its nuclear program in the coming days, the first since the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago, a German diplomatic source told AFP on Sunday.

Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, “are in contact with Iran to schedule further talks for the coming week,” the source said.

The trio had recently warned that international sanctions against Iran could be reactivated if Tehran does not return to the negotiating table.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported that Tehran had agreed to hold talks with the three European countries, citing an unnamed source.

Consultations are ongoing regarding a date and location for the talks, the report said.

“Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon,” the German source said.

“That is why Germany, France and the United Kingdom are continuing to work intensively in the E3 format to find a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program,” the source added.

Israel and Western nations have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.

On June 13, Israel launched a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, targeting key military and nuclear facilities.

The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran’s nuclear program on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.

Iran and the United States had held several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators before Israel launched its 12-day war against Iran.

However, US President Donald Trump’s decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively ended the talks.

The E3 countries last met with Iranian representatives in Geneva on June 21 — just one day before the US strikes.

Also Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader on nuclear issues.

Larijani “conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear program,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting.

Putin had expressed Russia’s “well-known positions on how to stabilize the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear program,” he added.

Moscow has a cordial relationship with Iran’s clerical leadership and provides crucial backing for Tehran but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even after the United States joined Israel’s bombing campaign.

Iran and world powers struck a deal in 2015 called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which placed significant restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

But the hard-won deal began to unravel in 2018, during Trump’s first presidency, when the United States walked away from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

European countries have in recent days threatened to trigger the deal’s “snapback” mechanism, which allows the reimposition of sanctions in the event of non-compliance by Iran.

After a call with his European counterparts on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Western allies had “absolutely no moral (or) legal grounds” for reactivating the snapback sanctions.

He elaborated in a post to social media Sunday.

“Through their actions and statements, including providing political and material support to the recent unprovoked and illegal military aggression of the Israeli regime and the US... the E3 have relinquished their role as ‘Participants’ in the JCPOA,” said Araghchi.

That made any attempt to reinstate the terminated UN Security Council resolutions “null and void,” he added.

“Iran has shown that it is capable of defeating any delusional ‘dirty work’ but has always been prepared to reciprocate meaningful diplomacy in good faith,” Araghchi wrote.

However, the German source said Sunday that “if no solution is reached over the summer, snapback remains an option for the E3.”

Ali Velayati, an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last week there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities.