Iranian photographer Forough Alaei portrays life during the war: 'Nothing will ever be the same again'
On Sunday, June 15, two days after the start of Israeli airstrikes, Forough Alaei left the capital with her family to take shelter at her uncle's home in Abbas Abad, on the Caspian Sea coast. "My sister called, panicking, to warn us that our neighborhood had been hit," the photographer recounted. "The neighbors' windows had shattered. Tiara, my 8-year-old niece, was terrified and couldn't calm down. I told her to pack their things, that we would come pick them up by car to leave Tehran ( … ) I had never seen such traffic jams… Usually, it takes less than four hours to reach the sea; that day, it took us sixteen hours to get there." Forough Alaei and her family remained on the coast for the entire war, moving between her uncle's house in Abbas Abad and her aunt's in Sari, before returning to Tehran. On June 27, three days after the ceasefire, the photographer wrote: "These days, we are torn between two conflicting feelings. On one hand, the desire to return to a normal life and, on the other, anxiety about the future. The only thing we can say for certain is that nothing will ever be the same again."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
5 hours ago
- Euronews
Dozens killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes, authorities say
Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 30 people on Sunday, 17 of which at a water collection point, including six children, according to local health officials. Separately, Hamas authorities said an Israeli strike hit a group of citizens walking in the street on Sunday afternoon in central Gaza City, killing 11 people and injuring around 30 others. Dr. Ahmed Qandil, who specializes in general surgery, was among those killed, Gaza's Health Ministry said. A ministry spokesperson, Zaher al-Wahidi, told the Associated Press that Qandil had been on his way to Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital. Concerning the deadly strike at the collection point, the Israeli Defence Force said there had been a technical error: 'Earlier today a strike was carried out targeting a terrorist operative from the Islamic Jihad organization in the central Gaza Strip. Due to a technical malfunction in the munition, it struck dozens of meters away from the intended target'. 'The incident is under investigation. We are aware of reports of casualties in the area as a result, and the details of the incident are still being reviewed,' the military added. Truce talks deadlocked Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas appeared no closer to a breakthrough in indirect talks aimed at pausing the war and free more Israeli hostages after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Washington visit last week. Netanyahu defended his efforts against critical reporting in the Israeli Hebrew press in a video update posted to his X account: 'It was a very successful visit, following a major victory in Iran… We have a lot of tasks to do, and I'm determined to complete them'. Responding to claims that he and his government are obstructing a deal, Netanyahu charges that Hebrew-language media 'are always echoing Hamas propaganda, and they're always wrong.' A new sticking point has emerged over Israeli troops deployment during a ceasefire. Israel says it will end the war only once Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something Hamas refuses to do. Hamas says it is willing to free all the remaining 50 hostages, about 20 of them said to be alive, in exchange for an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces. Throughout the war in Gaza, violence has also surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Funerals were held there Sunday for two Palestinians, including visiting Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet, who was killed by Israeli settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Musallet's family has requested that the US State Department investigate his death and hold the settlers accountable. The State Department said it had no comment out of respect for the family.
LeMonde
7 hours ago
- LeMonde
Why Israel doesn't know how to end a war
The State of Israel established its current borders – comprising 77% of what was previously Palestine – after a founding war that lasted just under eight months, in 1948-1949. The fledgling Israeli army then defeated five Arab armies from Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Iraq and Lebanon that had attacked it. This first Arab-Israeli war, referred to in Israel as the "War of Independence" and in Arabic as the "War of Palestine," was accompanied by the expulsion of more than half of the Arab population of Palestine. Many of those expelled sought refuge in the Gaza region, under the protection of the Egyptian army. The Israeli army then attempted an encirclement maneuver by entering Egyptian territory, an incursion countered by the United States, which imposed a ceasefire. Not only did this US intervention mark the advent of the "Gaza Strip," but it also set a precedent for successful interventions in situations where the Israeli army, left to its own devices, seemed incapable of ending hostilities. The second Arab-Israeli war, in October-November 1956, was the only one in which the Israeli army did not act alone but in coalition with France and the United Kingdom, determined to overthrow the regime of Colonel Nasser in Egypt after he nationalized the Suez Canal. The US forced the three aggressors to halt hostilities before compelling Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories, including the Gaza Strip, in March 1957. Shorter wars that were nonetheless more favorable to Israel The third Arab-Israeli war, in June 1967, went down in history as the "Six-Day War" due to the lightning speed of the Israeli offensive. Not only were East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip now occupied, but so too were Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Syria's Golan Heights. The US secured a ceasefire from Israel before the Arab humiliation turned into a defeat, which would have prompted a reaction from the Soviet Union. The same sequence of events occurred in October 1973, after 18 days of conflict initiated by a joint Syrian-Egyptian offensive.
Euronews
9 hours ago
- Euronews
Zelenskyy slams Russia for intensifying 'terror' campaign on Ukraine
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed Russia for intensifying what he called a terror campaign designed to intimidate Ukrainian civilians. Zelenskyy made the remarks in a post on X, where he detailed the Kremlin's increased attacks on Ukraine over the past seven days. The Ukrainian leader says Russia fired over 1,800 drones, more than 1,200 guided aerial bombs and 83 missiles of various types in the space of one week. Earlier in the week, Kyiv said Russia launched a barrage which included highly lethal aeroballistic and cruise missiles. Russia's defence ministry have claimed major territorial gains amid their renewed offensive, particularly on the eastern frontlines in the Donbas region. The Kremlin says its forces have claimed the villages of Mykolaiv and Mirne in Donetsk. Moscow currently controls a little over two-thirds of the Donetsk region, including the city of Donetsk itself, and a large swathe of surrounding territory. Kyiv has not commented on Russia's claims of further advancement. Zelenskyy did however note that Ukraine's air defence forces are achieving 'good results'. The Ukrainian leader says Kyiv's air defences were able to thwart hundreds of Russian drone strikes targeting several cities and positions in primarily civilian positions. 'Interceptor drones are performing particularly well, with hundreds of Russian-Iranian 'shaheds' shot down over the past week,' wrote Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy also expressed ongoing efforts to further bolster Ukrainian air defences and advance interception technology. 'Every meeting with partners this week was about scaling up this technology. I am grateful to everyone willing to invest in the protection of life, and to our warriors who safeguard the Ukrainian skies.' He also called on allies to ramp up pressure on Moscow to force them to the negotiating table and end their full-scale invasion of his country, well into its fourth year. 'Shaheds' are one of Russia's ways of prolonging the war. We must neutralize this threat in order to bring diplomacy into motion sooner,' asserted Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian president expressed his gratitude to Ukraine's allies in Europe, the Group of Seven – or G7 – and the United States for their continued support and commitment to ensuring Ukraine can continue to fend off Russian attacks. A few days ago, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington will send a weapons package to Ukraine in the coming days, which will be delivered to them through an intermediary in NATO. The weapons shipment, paid for by Ukraine's European allies and NATO, includes Patriot air defence systems, which Ukraine has been seeking for a long time due to their high efficacy in intercepting aerial attacks.
