Saudi’s desalination push is drawing big private interest. The kingdom already accounts for ~25% of global capacity and plans a 40% increase by 2030. The problem is sustainability: desalination is energy-intensive in a country reliant on fossil fuels. www.agbi.com/analysis/inf...

Excl: Saudi Arabia is planning to release lions into the wild after they were hunted to extinction more than a century ago. It is one of more than 23 threatened or endangered species the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve is looking to reintroduce. www.agbi.com/tourism/2026...

Combining satellite imagery and on the ground reporting from Oliver Marsden and @edmundbower.bsky.social we reported on the horrific scale of mass graves in Syria following the fall of Assad 👇 www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

🧵This man poses an existential threat that could irreparably divide Syria, yet ironically, addressing this threat head-on in such sensitive times risks being misinterpreted as an attempt to sow division. But Ahmad Al-Awda is a ticking time-bomb. Here’s why:

So stunned that my pic of this burning of Assad has made @thetimes.com "defining photos of the year". Thanks to @edmundbower.bsky.social for telling me, & to the @irishtimes.bsky.social for putting it on their front page last week. #syria www.thetimes.com/culture/phot...

I spoke to some of the first Syrian exiles who returned following the fall of the Assad regime. Many prefer to wait and see how things pan out, but a few came back at the first opportunity to help support the country through its transition. www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

The Washington Post visits a General Intelligence Directorate facility in Aleppo, finding copious surveillance records alongside evidence of torture and abuse. @leloveluck.bsky.social @salwangeorges.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...

I’m receiving a lot of messages asking why we only wrote about Assad’s jails after the regime fell - so for the avoidance of doubt, we didn’t. For context on what happened in Sednaya, here is our investigation into executions there as the pace accelerated: www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/201...

The Syrian pound has strengthened massively against the dollar in the last week. A dollar got you SYP 15,000 when I arrived last Sunday. Today it gets you around SYP 11,000 in Damascus.

Driving around Damascus today things feel much more normal. Rush hour traffic in the morning, businesses open, cars stopping at red lights (which they weren’t last week).

Yesterday Oliver Marsden and @edmundbower.bsky.social visited suspected mass grave sites in Damascus for @thetimes.com At one site, a gravedigger spoke of trucks of bodies arriving weekly, dripping blood down the road Satellite analysis supports these claims 👇 www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

In Qutayfa, @edmundbower.bsky.social met a teacher Mohammad Abou al-Bahaa who witnessed soldiers unloading corpses into purpose-built trenches He estimated at least 2,000 bodies are buried at this site, which became a Hezbollah base two years ago

I spoke to religious minorities living in Damascus who are cautiously optimistic for the future but concerned about what comes next. So far they say they have been pleased with the how things have unfolded but worry about living under an Islamist govt. www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

Thousands ascended the hill to Sednaya Prison yesterday in search of loved ones taken by the Assad regime. They poured over prison records and pulled apart the concrete of “Assad’s slaughterhouse” looking for a second prison underground, but in vain. My story here: www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

Russian media is reporting that Assad is in Moscow, which means that Russia has accepted its first Syrian refugee english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-...

Just got to Damascus. Streets are eerily quiet amidst the curfew. There are number of abandoned military vehicles on the road from the Leb border, one still burning. Saw many discarded army uniforms on the road approaching the city, apparently from deserting soldiers.

Festival atmosphere on the road to the border from Lebanon to Syria. “I’ve been here for 14 years,” one 19-year-old boy from Aleppo told me. He has spent almost his whole life as a refugee. “Now I’m going home”.

#Syria-n state TV airs statement saying Assad has been overthrown The fall of Bashar Assad after 14 years of war in Syria brings to an end a decades-long dynasty apnews.com/article/syri...

Speaking to a Syrian friend in Lebanon today he told me his excitement at the news that the regime has fallen: “I’m going back to my country after 13 years, seven months, and 23 days. “Today is a celebration”.

Aleppo has long been home to one of Syria’s largest and most vibrant Christian communities. @joesnellreports.bsky.social and I spoke to a number of Christians there about their current situation and how they see their future after the HTS capture of the city www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...

I'm a little jealous, I'm not going to lie: "On the open market, rents for a four-bedroom apartment in Manial generally start at around EGP 20,000 a month ($402.95). But Ahmed and his mother pay just EGP 8 ($0.16)." From @edmundbower.bsky.social www.agbi.com/analysis/peo...

In Beirut today, one person I interviewed had his home destroyed. His family was unhurt because his mother was already in the hospital. As he swept the dust from the now exposed stairwell, he said that his thoughts were with Gaza. “We haven’t experienced 1% of what Gaza has,” he told me.

Blast just heard now in Hamra.

In case you missed it… finally made it somewhere safe but: #Lebanon: 4 Israeli evacuation warnings for central Beirut including near the busy Hamra street. Traffic and chaos everywhere as people flee. Warnings call for people to stay 50 meters away instead of the usual 500.

Seeing people in Hamra for the first time since the escalation carrying bags and pets in carry cases.

Seeing people waiting outside hotels in Hamra waiting for the strikes. Al the hotels here are filled with those who have been displaced at least once. Some multiple times.

The streets in Hamra are jammed with people trying to leave after strike announcements. It was rush hour anyway, and the population is triple what it normally is with displaced people from other areas seeking refuge.

Per CNN: ceasefire meeting postponed. Meanwhile, further airstrikes on Beirut are expected imminently.

New evacuation warnings around Beirut. Areas that have not yet been hit. One a few streets away from me in Hamra, an area that has so far been spared.

More strikes have been announced in Saida and Sour. A ceasefire is expected this evening. More homes will be destroyed before then.

I’ve never heard the drone this loud in Hamra. People on the street are looking up into the sky as if they can catch a glimpse of it.

After pulverizing the southern suburbs, the IDF says to expect more strikes in Beirut proper.

Following up on this afternoon’s strike on Beirut, the IDF Arabic speaking spokesperson announced on Twitter 20 forthcoming strikes on the southern suburbs in just the last 20 minutes.

Fun Aya Iskandarani story on the new micro-economy between two craters left by Israeli airstrikes on the no-man's land at the main Syrian-Lebanese border crossing, including taxis now stuck ferrying passengers between the craters and a kiosk called "the Pit": www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...

Egypt plans to issue $1.2 bn worth of tenders for public-private partnerships. The govt is currently looking to private investors to plug gaps in its austerity budget and is under pressure from the IMF to increase the role of the private sector. My report for AGBI: www.agbi.com/infrastructu...

“The readiness of Lebanon’s army is a matter of growing urgency as the Biden administration makes a new push for an end to the war between Israel and Hezbollah." @kareemf.bsky.social Suzan Haidamous and I report for @washingtonpost.com with photos by Ed Ram www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...

"If it wasn’t plain before, recent years have brought home that Britain is an inescapably European country." Terrific column by Janan Ganesh on a disastrous decade for UK foreign policy:

The Abu Dhabi Tourist Investment Company (ADTIC) has allocated $100 million for the 303-room Sofitel Legend Pyramids Giza hotel. The Tourism Ministry is currently trying to double hotel rooms from 225,000 to 475,000 by 2030. My report for AGBI: www.agbi.com/tourism/2024...

The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza. www.icc-cpi.int/news/situati...