Latest news with #Kassab
Arab News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
KSrelief deal to support wildfire response in Syria's Latakia
KASSAB: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center has signed a cooperation agreement to provide critical firefighting equipment, machinery and supplies to support efforts in combating forest fires in the Syrian town of Kassab, located in Latakia governorate. The agreement was signed on Tuesday in the presence of Syria's Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed Al-Saleh, and reflects a growing partnership between the two sides aimed at boosting Syria's emergency response capabilities, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday. The scheme is designed to enhance the effectiveness and speed of wildfire response operations in Latakia through technical and logistical support to local firefighting teams. With summer temperatures rising, the agreement is seen as a timely intervention to mitigate the risk of widespread forest fires in the region. Syria's Deputy Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Ahmed Qazziz described the agreement as strategically significant, particularly during the high-risk summer period. He highlighted its focus on strengthening civil defense readiness, training personnel and equipping field teams, all crucial elements in safeguarding communities from natural disasters. The agreement is part of Saudi Arabia's broader humanitarian mission to assist disaster-affected populations and help brotherly countries around the world.
The National
13-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Syria shuts land crossing with Turkey after forest fires spread near border
Syrian authorities have closed a border crossing with Turkey after forest fires spread close to the coastal area north-west of the country. Officials said that crews worked overnight on Sunday and have largely scaled down the threat. The fires stared on July 2, amid one of the worst draughts in Syria in decades, and after a wave of sectarian killing s on the coast, the heartland of the Syria's minority Alawite sect. The crossing in a wooded area between the Syrian area of Kassab and the Turkish governorate of Hatay has been closed for safety reasons, the authorities announced on Saturday. Turkey is Syria's economic lifeline, supplying the country with a large chunk of its fuel and basic food needs. Ismail Al Abdullah, a spokesman for the Syrian Civil Defence, told The National from the Kassab area that most of the coastal fires have been extinguished with help of crews from Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, but that two spots remain active. These comprise the Zahia and Attera areas of the Turkmen Mountain. Attera is about four kilometres south from the border with Turkey. 'The crews worked overnight, and the efforts are continuing so the fires will not extend to the Turkish side,' Mr Al Abdullah said. However, the situation remains 'highly tense', another Civil Defence official told The National. Four other crossing with Turkey remain open. The Kassab crossing, however, is the closest route between the coast and Turkey, particularly Hatay and Iskandaroun provinces, where many Turkish nationals of Syrian origins live. The fires began earlier this month in the Turkmen Mountain of Latakia governorate. Soon after areas in the nearby governorates of Baniyas and Tartous were ablaze, as well as Hama in the interior. The coast where most of the fires have occurred contains the majority of Syria's green cover, about 4,000 square kilometres, or 2 per cent of Syria's land mass, according to data recorded in 2010 before the civil war broke out. Decades of illegal logging and unlicensed building and farming, particularly during the 13-year conflict, have compromised the country's forests. The war ended in December, when an offensive, led by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, toppled 54 years of Al Assad family rule. Officials attributed the rapid spread of the flames to high temperatures and strong winds and said there was no evidence of foul play. In the late 2000s, Syria became a wheat importer due to lack of rain and the illegal use of water wells, which affected underground reservoirs. Fire combating help has arrived also from the Syrian Democratic Forces, a mostly Kurdish militia in control of areas of eastern Syria. The SDF has been the main political rival of the current government.
Saba Yemen
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Ten martyred, including mother, her six children in enemy shelling of Rafah, Deir al-Balah
Gaza - Saba: Ten Palestinian citizens, including six children, were martyred on Monday evening in Israeli enemy shelling of the central and southern Gaza Strip. The Palestinian News Agency, Wafa, reported that three citizens were martyred and others were injured and transferred to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after an Israeli drone targeted a group of citizens in al-Masha'la area, south of Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. The agency added that a mother and her six children were martyred when the enemy targeted a tent belonging to Kassab family in al-Mawasi area of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Their bodies were transferred to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. In the same context, Israeli enemy forces bombed the generators at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip this evening, causing a complete power outage, threatening the lives of the wounded and sick inside. Since October 7, 2023, the enemy forces have launched an aggression on the Gaza Strip, resulting in the martyrdom of 53,486 citizens, the majority of whom were children and women, and the injury of 121,398 others, in an incomplete toll, as a number of victims are still under the rubble and in the streets, and ambulance and rescue crews are unable to reach them. Whatsapp Telegram Email more of (International)
The Guardian
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Theory of Everything by Yumna Kassab review – this kaleidoscopic experiment is a delight
How do you find meaning in a novel that rejects it so thoroughly? The publisher's blurb for The Theory of Everything, Yumna Kassab's new work, describes it as many things, among them 'a rant, a manifesto … a dramatisation of actual events, a horror-scape … five mini-novels or else five post-novels … an agreement, a wink'. In perhaps her most ambitious work to date, all of these things could be true. While Kassab, the inaugural Parramatta laureate in literature, has become known for her fragmented, polyphonic style, here she breaks the mould even further, removing the narrative supports of her earlier works Politica and The Lovers and taking us out of the familiar forms of the novel, novella, short story, even vignette, into something – indescribably – else. Divided into five parts (or 'mini-novels', as the blurb suggests), The Theory of Everything is far from a comfort read. There is no opportunity to lose yourself in a narrative – and if, for a moment, there seems to be, it's snatched away almost immediately. The novel opens with a powerfully violent allegory that sees 'the war of the century' play out in a sports stadium, but it immediately gives way to another, more fragmented form. The overall impression is less novel than surrealist painting, provoking strong, even contradictory reactions, and changing shape as you watch. It might be a love story worn down by the pressures of elite sports and structural racism, then a diatribe about the novel itself; a lengthy philosophical oration on form and function. Later, it morphs into a monologue which might be read as society breaking down, or alternatively a society finally finding the courage to revolt. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning All the interpretations might be simultaneously true. All might be totally incorrect. Kassab has posed a mighty challenge to her readers. The Theory of Everything revolts against a toothless, performative feminism, hypocritical and racist ideologies that embolden the status quo, and a world unwilling to change. Kassab's critiques are wide reaching, covering disparities in education, maternal health care, economic potential and social acceptance. The women in this book, frequently unnamed or spoken of in general terms, are trying to get back to their children, or staying strong for their families. They are women who are sick of being brutalised for playing nice. The novel's creative challenges are a delight, stirring up the possibilities of what novels might be and do. At her best, Kassab writes burning little glimpses of our fractured global existence. In all but the final section of the novel, beautifully rendered scenes gleam through the wreckage of a world that is tearing itself apart. In one of these vignettes, Mothering (for Mellie), a mother changes her baby's nappy while a pig-headed security guard attempts to remove her from the store. In The Friends (for Gabrielle), a man living on the brink of poverty games the system in order to keep feeding his only companions – the birds at his window. In contrast, the denser monologues feel weighty, almost exhausting to read. She, a subsection of the novel's second part, Gender, is oppressively self-reflexive, pre-empting, perhaps, any criticisms of the novel's form. Kassab (as She) writes: 'Just because it's called a novel doesn't mean it's a novel. Publishers are notorious for trying to pass off non-novels as novels, likely for commercial reasons but perhaps there's an element of the experiment, that the label of the novel should not be so narrow.' It might be easier to grasp The Theory of Everything's central premise if the experiment were slightly more contained, but that's clearly not the point. And honestly, it's a delight to see a writer willing to push the boundaries so far, and to be so unconcerned with palatability. There are three characters in particular that stand out as more fully drawn than the others, whose stories reveal the performance of belonging. Ibrahim, who appears in the novel's early parts, is an elite footballer who finds fame and wealth signing on to a major league in the west, but is forced to reckon with how much of his identity he's willing to sacrifice as his wife, his religion and his visits to his home country become easy fodder for racist media headlines. Lucille, a movie star who no longer uses her old name, Nour, experiences similar interrogations as she is asked repeatedly in interviews 'where [she stands] in relation to the cause'. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Jamal, the last of these three characters, best articulates the dilemma the three characters have in common: 'The price for the support and friendliness and community was that he hand over his life. In return for his inclusion, he was to nod when told, speak when ordered, to voice the opinions he had been taught. In short, his life was to be an echo of their life.' Here, Kassab reveals how tenuous the protection of success and celebrity are, how reliant they are on the performer playing along. In this bold, electrifying experiment, Yumna Kassab refuses to perform. The Theory of Everything by Yumna Kassab is out through Ultimo Press ($34.99)
