Thousands flee as war reaches Sudan’s second-largest city
Thousands of displaced people have fled the formerly safe city of Wad Madani in Sudan, as the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reaches the city. Paramilitary forces established a base in the east of Sudan’s second-largest city and the capital of al-Jazirah state, the AFP news agency reported on Sunday, forcing thousands of already displaced people to escape. The RSF attack has opened a new front in the eight-month-old war, in what had previously been “one of Sudan’s few remaining sanctuaries”, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Sudan director William Carter. Crowds of people – many of whom had taken refuge in the city from violence in the capital Khartoum – were seen packing up belongings and leaving on foot in videos posted on social media. “The war has followed us to Madani so I am looking for a bus so me and my family can flee,” 45-year-old Ahmed Salih told the Reuters news agency by phone. “We are living in hell and there is no one to help us,” he said, adding that he planned to head south to Sennar. People displaced by the conflict in Sudan get on top of the back of a truck moving along a road in Wad Madani, the capital of al-Jazirah state, on December 16, 2023 [AFP] Sudan’s army, which has held the city since the start of the conflict, launched air strikes on RSF forces as it tried to push back the assault that started on Friday, witnesses told Reuters. The RSF responded with artillery and RSF reinforcements were seen moving in the direction of the fighting, the witnesses added. RSF soldiers have also been seen in villages to the north and west of the city in recent days and weeks, residents said. Sudan spiralled into war after soaring tensions between army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo exploded into open fighting in mid-April. The war broke out due to disagreements over plans for a political transition and the integration of the RSF into the army, four years after former ruler Omar al-Bashir was deposed in an uprising. More than 12,000 people have been killed, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict and Event Data Project, while the United Nations says nearly 6.8 million have been forced to flee their homes. The UN on Sunday said 14,000 people have fled Wad Madani so far, and a few thousand had already reached other cities. Half a million people had sought refuge in al-Jazirah, mainly from Khartoum. Wad Madani alone houses more than 86,000 displaced people, according to the UN, which has suspended all humanitarian field missions in al-Jazirah state. More than 270,000 of the city’s 700,000 residents had been dependent on humanitarian aid, the UN said. The United States Ambassador John Godfrey urged the RSF to “cease their advance” on al-Jazirah state. “A continued RSF advance risks mass civilian casualties and significant disruption of humanitarian assistance efforts,” Godfrey said in a statement on Sunday. ‘Nowhere to hide from violence’ Families scrambled on Sunday to once again flee to safety but found bus tickets had quadrupled to $60 a head, and many had nowhere to go. “A continuous flow of people, many of them who already ran for their lives just a few months ago, are now rushing towards already heavily burdened and resource-depleted cities in neighbouring states,” the NRC’s Carter said. “We are also extremely worried for highly vulnerable families in Wad Madani who have been crammed into displacement sites in schools for months and have nowhere to hide from violence, no means to escape and nowhere else to flee,” Carter added. Sudan’s doctors’ union said on Sunday the situation in the city has become “catastrophic” after pharmacies were forced shut. The army and RSF last week cast doubt on an East African mediation initiative aimed at ending a war that has triggered the largest internal displacement in the world and warnings of famine-like conditions. In Khartoum and cities in Darfur that the RSF has already taken, residents have reported rapes, looting and arbitrary killing and detention. The group is also accused of ethnic killings in West Darfur. The RSF has denied those accusations and said anyone in its forces found to be involved in such crimes would be held accountable. Adblock test (Why?)
Starving Palestinians loot aid trucks as desperation mounts in Gaza’s Rafah
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen after more than two months of Israeli bombing and forced displacement of people to the enclave’s south. On Sunday, hungry and desperate Palestinians were seen jumping onto aid trucks in order to get food and other supplies in Gaza’s Rafah area near the border with Egypt. Dozens of Palestinians surrounded the aid trucks after they drove in through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, forcing some to stop before climbing aboard, pulling food and water boxes down, and carrying them off or passing them off to crowds below. Some trucks appeared to be guarded by masked people carrying sticks. “The humanitarian situation has become very desperate, not only for the residents of Rafah city but also for the one million displaced Palestinians here who are becoming hungry, thirsty and traumatised as the war pounds on,” said Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah. Mahmoud said the amount of aid being allowed inside the strip is not enough and has forced the Palestinians into a “survival mode”. “People are without anything – without a home, without access to food, without water and without medical supplies,” he said. “So, the scenes at Rafah crossing are a natural response: When people starve to death, when they are hungry, this is what we will see happening.” ‘Desperate for food’ The United Nations this week warned that people in Gaza are so “desperate for food” that they are stopping aid trucks and immediately eating what they find. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA who visited the strip recently, said the residents, despite their long and difficult history of suffering under Israeli siege, have “never, ever experienced” hunger of this kind. “I saw it with my eyes that people in Rafah have started to decide to help themselves directly from the truck out of total despair and eat what they have taken out of the truck on the spot,” Lazzarini said on Thursday. Palestinians loot a humanitarian aid truck in Rafah on Sunday [Fatima Shbair/AP Photo] On the same day, Carl Skau, the deputy head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), confirmed that nearly half of the people in Gaza are starving, with no idea where their next meal is coming from. The WFP said half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million is starving as the Israeli military’s assault on the southern part of the enclave expands and people are cut off from supplies. Drone footage from southern Gaza on Sunday showed volunteers from the Gaza Emergency Relief prepare a giant stew. Aid deliveries crossing into Gaza via Rafah, the sole entry point on the Egyptian border, are only a fraction of pre-conflict levels, despite the surge in needs. Aid coming through the border crossing has been slow to deliver what the Gaza Strip population needs because of delays from truck inspections. Rafah is sheltering more than 12,000 people per square kilometre, housing an estimated 85 percent of people displaced across Gaza since the attacks began on October 7. That day, Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing some 1,140 people and taking another 240 captives. Israel’s bombardment has since killed 18,787 people and injured another 50,897, while thousands are believed to be buried under the rubble. Despite thousands sheltering at the crossing, Rafah continues to be the target of Israeli air strikes. A massive explosion took place overnight in the Geneina district of Rafah, with two people killed and residential homes targeted and destroyed, said Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud. “A large number of injured have been brought to the Kuwaiti hospital here,” he said. “We are talking about more than 50 people injured.” Adblock test (Why?)
South Korea says North fired short-range ballistic missile into sea
The launch came as Pyongyang marks the anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il. South Korea has accused the North of firing a short-range ballistic missile amid tensions in the peninsula. Sunday’s launch came as North Korea condemned the United States-led military’s shows of force, including the arrival of a submarine in South Korea as tantamount to “a preview of a nuclear war”. The missile was launched from the Pyongyang area towards the East Sea at around 10:38pm (13:38 GMT) on Sunday and flew about 570km (354 miles) before falling into the ocean, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. The launch followed warnings from officials in Seoul and Tokyo that nuclear-armed North Korea was preparing to test-fire a missile, including one of its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) this month. Japan’s Ministry of Defence also said North Korea launched “what appears to be a ballistic missile”, with its coastguard adding that it seemed to have already fallen. South Korean and Japanese naval ships conduct missile defence drills with the US Navy in the Sea of Japan [File: Samantha Oblander/US Navy/Handout via Reuters] JCS said Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have “closely shared information regarding North Korea’s ballistic missile”, which was launched two days after the US and South Korea held their second session of the Nuclear Consultative Group in Washington on Friday, where they discussed nuclear deterrence in the event of conflict with the North. A spokesperson for the North’s Defence Ministry on Sunday slammed the allies’ plans to expand a key annual joint military drill next year to include a nuclear operation drill and warned of “a preemptive and deadly counteraction”. “This is an open declaration on nuclear confrontation to make the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK a fait accompli,” the statement carried by the KCNA news agency said, using the official acronym for North Korea. “Any attempt to use armed forces against the DPRK will face a preemptive and deadly counteraction.” All of North Korea’s ballistic missile activities are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions, though Pyongyang defends them as its sovereign right to self-defence. The missile launch also came as Pyongyang marks the anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il, who died on December 17, 2011. North Korea last year declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear programme, which the regime views as essential for its survival. Last month, Pyongyang successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit. It has since claimed its eye in the sky was already providing images of major US and South Korean military sites. The UN Security Council has adopted many resolutions calling on North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes since it first conducted a nuclear test in 2006. Washington and its allies have also expressed concerns about a potential arms alignment between North Korea and Russia. They worry that Kim is providing badly needed munitions to help Russian President Vladimir Putin wage the war in Ukraine in exchange for Russian technology assistance to upgrade his nuclear-armed military. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Nonsense’: Putin rejects Biden claim that Russia plans to attack NATO
The Russian president says Moscow has ‘no interest … to fight with NATO countries’. The Russian president has dismissed the United States’s claims that Moscow could attack a NATO country in the future as “complete nonsense”, saying such a conflict would run counter to his country’s interests. Vladimir Putin made the statement in an interview with Russian state TV on Sunday, weeks after US President Joe Biden warned that if Putin achieved victory in Ukraine, he might be emboldened to attack a NATO ally, sparking a third world war. “It is complete nonsense – and I think President Biden understands that,” Putin told state television channel Rossiya. “Russia has no reason, no interest – no geopolitical interest, neither economic, political nor military – to fight with NATO countries.” Putin added that Biden may be trying to stoke such fears to justify his “erroneous policy” in the region. US-Russia relations have sunk to their lowest level in decades since Moscow invaded neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022. Throughout the 22-month war, the US has provided Ukraine with $111bn in weapons, equipment, and other aid, helping the Ukrainians fend off Russia’s advance and regain some territory. Biden favours sending even more support to war-torn Ukraine, which is running short on supplies as it grinds to a bloody winter stalemate. He has asked US Congress to approve $61.4bn in support for Ukraine as part of a larger $110bn package that includes more funds for Israel and other issues. However, there is waning appetite in the Congress for the lingering war. Some Republican lawmakers have blocked the aid package, demanding the White House first take action on border security. Biden on December 12 said right-wing lawmakers’ refusal to approve the package also risked handing President Putin a “Christmas gift” of victory. “Putin is banking on the United States failing to deliver for Ukraine,” Biden said during a news conference with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We must … prove him wrong.” Presidents Zelenskyy, left, and Biden shake hands in the White House, Washington, DC, December 12 [Mandel Ngan/AFP] Tensions with Finland While Putin dismissed the prospect of a direct NATO feud, he did address tensions with neighbouring Finland since it joined the alliance. Finland, which became a NATO member in April, on Friday shut down its entire eastern border with Russia, which it accuses of orchestrating a migrant crisis on its border. Putin said he would respond to the deteriorating ties by opening up a military zone in its northwest. “They [the West] dragged Finland into NATO. Did we have any disputes with them? All disputes, including territorial ones in the mid-20th century, have long been solved,” Putin said. “There were no problems there. Now there will be [problems] because we will create the Leningrad military district and concentrate a certain amount of military units there.” Adblock test (Why?)
France condemns killing of its worker in Israeli strike in Gaza’s Rafah
The killing comes as French top diplomat Catherine Colonna in Israel to appeal for truce and lasting peace. The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs has condemned the Israeli bombing of a residential building in Rafah that killed one of its staff in a region previously declared a safe zone. “France condemns this bombing of a residential building which caused the death of many other civilians. We demand that all light be shed by the Israeli authorities on the circumstances of this bombing, as quickly as possible,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The house was hit on Wednesday evening, killing the employee and 10 others who had been sheltering with colleagues and their family members in the residential location. The employee had been working with the French government in Gaza since 2002, and some of his family members had already been evacuated from Gaza, the ministry said, offering condolences. The ministry statement is released at a time when external pressure on Israel is increasing due to its “indiscriminate” bombing raids in Gaza. More than 80 percent of the nearly 19,000 Palestinians killed are said to be civilians. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Sunday pressed for an “immediate and durable” truce in the Gaza war, adding Paris is “deeply concerned” over the situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. “Too many civilians are being killed,” Colonna said during remarks in Tel Aviv with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen, as Israel presses on with its offensive after the October 7 attacks that has sent tensions spiralling across the region. The foreign minister also condemned the October 7 attack by Hamas and plans to meet with the families of the Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip. At least 1,140 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the Hamas attack and 240 were taken captive. Dozens of them were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners as part of a truce deal late last month. Colonna also plans to pursue an agreement with her Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki in the occupied West Bank during her trip. Shortly before her arrival in Israel, Colonna condemned increasing attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. “Since October 7, unfortunately, some settlers, driven by their ideological blindness… have committed crimes” against Palestinians, she said, adding that “these settlers must be punished”. More than 290 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health. Adblock test (Why?)
A tale of two Rumis – of the East and of the West
Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi’s spiritual poems and perpetual wisdom have transcended time and cultures. Seven hundred and fifty years after his death, the celebrated Persian thinker remains a best-selling poet in the West, revered as an Islamic dervish in the East, while his sagacious thoughts rule the internet. When he died on December 17, 1273, aged 66, the streets of Konya, in present-day Turkey, were filled with mourners from multiple creeds and nations, reflective of the cosmopolitan society that lived in 13th century Anatolia – it was a time when the cross-cultural exchange of ideas and arts prospered. At his funeral, his followers, who also included Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, each recited from their own scriptures. This year too, on Sunday, the man posthumously known by his nisbah (a name indicating one’s origins) Rumi, will be honoured by his followers on Sheb-i Arus – meaning wedding night in both Persian and Turkish. And it would be in the spirit of the Persian poet’s call: “Our death is our wedding with eternity.” From the British capital, London, to California in the United States, to Konya, his murids or devotees, will gather in whirls of motion and emotion, remembering his own elegiac eulogy: “When you see my corpse is being carried,Don’t cry for my leaving,I’m not leaving,I’m arriving at eternal love.” – Rumi (translated by Muhammad Ali Mojaradi) Mevlana Rumi’s tomb in Konya is a point of pilgrimage for millions of devotees and tourists each year [Creative Commons] Who is Rumi in the east? Rumi is believed to have been born in the early thirteenth century in Balkh (now in Afghanistan), though some say his place of birth was in Central Asia. At the time of his birth (1207), the Persianate Empire spanned from India in the east and as far west as Greece, with many staking a claim to the man who would become more popularly known as Rumi, reflecting the region where he would settle – the Sultanate of Rum, also known as Anatolia. In the eastern world, Rumi’s name is often preceded by the honorific title Mevlana or Maulana (meaning our master), showing just how respected he is as an Islamic scholar and Sufi saint. To state his name without this title in some circles would receive tut-tutting and be considered disrespectful. “Like any historical figure who spans cultures, he has taken on a life of his own,” explained Muhammad Ali Mojaradi, a Persian scholar based in Kuwait. He said people tend to project their own understanding and bias when engaging with historical texts, including Rumi’s. “I have heard that Rumi is a staunchly orthodox Sunni Muslim, others say he is a closeted Zoroastrian, or a deviant Sufi, or someone who is too enlightened to subscribe to a religion. Some consider him a Tajik, a Khurasani, others a Persian, or Iranian, some are adamant that he is Turkish. These are more indicative of our biases than the real Rumi.” During his life, his identity was intrinsically linked to his faith. “I am the servant of the Quran, for as long as I have a soul.I am the dust on the road of Muhammad, the Chosen One.If someone interprets my words in any other way,That person I deplore, and I deplore his words.” – Rumi (translated by Muhammad Ali Mojaradi) Rumi was an Islamic scholar, following in a long line, and taught Sharia or Islamic law. He would also practise Tasawwuf, more popularly known as Sufism in the West. It is a way of understanding and drawing closer to God through the purification of the inner self, reflecting and remembering God through meditative chants, songs and sometimes even dance. Other thinkers and poets of his time included Ibn Arabi, the Andalusian philosopher and Fariddudin Attar, the Persian author of the Mantiq-ut-Tayr (Conference of the Birds). Islam’s openness to discussion and debate at this time would allow the poetry and arts to thrive, influencing the works of other Persian poets like Hafez and Omar Khayyam. Whirling dervishes perform outside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, this year to mark the 750th anniversary of the death of Mevlana Rumi [Khalil Hamra/AP Photo] What did Rumi become known for? After completing his theological education in Syria’s Aleppo, Rumi went to Konya where he met a wandering dervish, named Shams-i-Tabriz, who left a lasting impact on the Islamic scholar. Barka Blue, founder of a spiritual arts movement, the Rumi Centre, in California, said Tabriz would transform Rumi, and lead to his “spiritual awakening”. Rumi penned his magnum opus, the Masnavi, a 50,000-line poem, written in rhyming couplets and quatrains about a lifelong yearning in search of God. It would become the most famed of his works. Other notable works include Fihi Ma Fihi and Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi – a collection of poems written in honour of his spiritual mentor. “It [Masnavi] was actually called the ‘Quran in Persian’, indicating that it is the pinnacle of expression in that language but also that it is an exposition of the Quran in the Persian tongue,” Blue, the acclaimed rapper and poet, told Al Jazeera. As Rumi says in the introduction, “this is the root of the root of the root of the way [faith],” added Blue, author of The Art of Remembrance. To fully understand and appreciate the depths of Rumi’s words, “a firm grasp of the Islamic tradition in general and Sufism in particular” is needed, Blue said. “His words are undoubtedly a beautiful entry point to this tradition [of Islam].” Rumi himself would advise readers of the Masnavi to make ritual ablution and be in a state of cleanliness as one would upon reading the Quran or praying the five daily prayers. The intention when reading it was to connect with the Creator. Who is Rumi in the West? The first-known English translation of some of Rumi’s work was published in 1772 by a British judge and linguist William Jones in Calcutta — now Kolkata — then the base of the British
UK teen Alex Batty arrives home after going missing on holiday in 2017
Teen told investigators he spent six years living a nomadic lifestyle in Spain, Morocco and France. A British teenager who went missing for six years before turning up in France has arrived back in the United Kingdom, police have said. Alex Batty never returned home after travelling to Spain in 2017 with his mother and grandfather for what was supposed to be a two-week family holiday. The then 11-year-old boy’s disappearance sparked unsuccessful appeals for information about his whereabouts – until he turned up last week walking along a road late at night in southern France. “It gives me great pleasure to say Alex has now made his safe return back to the UK after six years,” Matt Boyle of Greater Manchester Police told reporters on Saturday. Boyle said police are yet to fully establish the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and whether a criminal investigation is warranted. Boyle said that officers, who are seeking to locate his mother Melanie Batty, would speak to the teen “at a pace that feels comfortable to him”. Batty, now 17, will return to his maternal grandmother, Susan Caruana, whom a British court entrusted with his custody before he vanished. Caruana requested that the family be granted space to process the news. “I cannot begin to express my relief and happiness that Alex has been found safe and well,” she said in a statement issued through British police. “The main thing is that he’s safe, after what would be an overwhelming experience for anyone, not least a child.” Batty told French officials he spent the past six years living a nomadic lifestyle with his mother and grandfather in Spain, Morocco and France as part of a “spiritual community”. He said the family grew their own food, meditated and contemplated esoteric subjects such as reincarnation. A doctor who examined Batty said the teen was healthy and did not appear to have suffered any abuse. French prosecutor Antoine Leroy told reporters on Friday that Batty had decided to leave his family after his mother said she wished to move to Finland, where she is “likely” to be now. Adblock test (Why?)
Smell that: The rise of India’s ittar industry
Kannauj, India — Gopal Kumar pulled apart the bulb of a flower and pointed to where the roots of the petals had turned a little black inside. This is when the marigolds smell the best and are ready for picking, he said. He picked a pink rose next and sniffed. “You can only find this smell in Kannauj,” he said. Kumar has been growing flowers outside Kannauj – a sleepy town nestled on the fertile plains of the Ganges in northern India – for 50 years. His flowers are used in the making of ittars, natural perfumes produced by distilling flowers, herbs, plants or spices over a base oil, which takes on the scent of the raw material. Once a sophisticated kingdom in northern India, Kannauj is famed for its production of ittars using an ancient method called deg-bhakpa. This is a slow, laborious process of hydrodistillation devoid of all modern equipment that has survived in hundreds of small-scale distilleries across Kannauj and in surrounding cities. Despite a long heritage of fragrance and scent, economic liberalisation of the late 1980s led to a period of decline in India’s ittar industry as cheap, alcohol-based perfumes were introduced from the West. Until the 1990s, there were 700 distilleries in Kannauj, but their numbers dropped to 150 to 200 by the mid-2000s. Trying to compete on price, some manufacturers started using alcohol as the base rather than more expensive sandalwood oil, degrading the quality and purity of the products. Post-liberalisation, rather than selling directly to consumers, the vast majority of ittars and essential oils produced in India were exported to other businesses – either as an input into perfumery and cosmetic industries in the West or to the tobacco industry. Rosewater is an ingredient in chewing tobacco. But in the past few years, several young, predominantly female Indian entrepreneurs have spotted a gap in the market between these indigenous artisanal skills and India’s thriving consumer culture, and a new set of homegrown brands has emerged. A new wave of fragrance Boond Fragrances is one such company, established in May 2021 during the pandemic by a sister and brother, Krati and Varun Tandon, to help preserve and raise awareness of the perfume-making traditions of Kannuaj and to support local artisans. “Our father was a perfume trader and at-home perfumer,” Krati Tandon explained at her family home in Kannuaj. ”We grew up around perfumers and perfumeries in Kannauj, and you really absorb what’s happening. But we also saw over the years how some perfumeries started shutting down, and some are worried about their futures.” The duo wanted to make ittars accessible. “The idea was really for us to bring it to customers – people like us who, if we knew something like this existed, would appreciate it,” Krati said. Divrina Dhingra, author of The Perfume Project: Journeys Through Indian Fragrance, agrees. “Ittars have a marketing problem actually. In many ways they are stuck in the past,” she said. “But it is also an awareness problem. I don’t know if many people know this industry still exists, the way in which it exists, what it does, what is actually available.” Gopal Kumar grows flowers in Kannauj that are used to make ittars [Eileen McDougall/Al Jazeera] The initial response to Boond, Krati said, has been overwhelming with more than 10,000 orders dispatched in the 12 months up to October, a sizeable number for the young business. Sales rise in winter, the Indian wedding season and the time when Christmas orders come from abroad. The company said it expects sales to double in the next two years but declined to share its revenue numbers. “Recently, people have again started realising what synthetic perfume is and what real perfume is,” Krati said. “Particularly post-COVID, there has been a transformation back towards the real thing.” As per market research firm Technavio, the Indian perfumery industry will increase by about 15 percent compounded annually for the next five years. While market trends are currently dominated by trade between businesses, the number of Indian firms selling their own fragrances directly to consumers is increasing. Indian beauty writer Aparna Gupta said there’s been “a discernible shift, a renaissance if you will, in the domestic market’s attitude towards these traditional fragrances”, which are predominantly marketed on Instagram, and demand for them has gained “considerable momentum”. She credited brands like Boond that are concentrating on traditional, time-tested ittar scents for playing “a pivotal role” in this resurgence. “They are not just selling ittars; they are reintroducing a forgotten art form to a generation that is eager to reconnect with its heritage,” she said. Then there are other new brands like Kastoor and Naso Profumi that are targeting “younger consumers by blending traditional elements with modern nuances” – for instance, Kastoor’s Mahal with its unique blend of patchouli and lotus, Gupta said. A tradition of scent The flowers used used to make ittar are put in water and sealed inside a large copper vat called a deg [Eileen McDougall/Al Jazeera] It is unclear exactly how long ittars and essential oils – made when vapours of ingredients are extracted but no base oil is used – have been produced through hydrodistillation in India. However, recently distillation stills excavated from the cities of the Indus Valley indicate a culture of scent in some form dating back to about 3,000 BC. Around Kannuaj, many locals attribute the discovery of ittars to the Mughal queen Nur Jahan, who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries CE. However, Sanskrit texts indicate that the area was already a centre of fragrance before Mughal times. Historians believe the practice was invigorated with new ingredients and distillation methods further developed by the Mughal court. Production is highly seasonal, and February in Kannuaj is the season of Damask rose. The warming winter sun was high in the sky by the time a motorbike arrived at the distillery of Prem and Company, a jute sack tied to its rear. Dinesh, the distiller, immediately weighed, inspected and
Analysis: Why Israel will continue its deadly push into Gaza city centres
Dramatic news reports, claims and videos have emerged from both sides involved in the Gaza fighting throughout the past week. The week started with the Israeli army releasing several videos of Palestinians stripped to their underwear being marched through urban ruins. Israel’s PR machine disregarded the Palestinian outcry that followed. Israel staunchly asserted that the men were Hamas fighters and that their alleged mass surrenders signified that the end of the Palestinian group was close, even as many Palestinians and independent observers insisted that the men were civilians who had been treated against the laws of war by being publicly humiliated. For its part, Hamas stuck to its usual practice of pushing its cause through video releases – skilfully edited to enhance the desired effects – purporting to confirm its constant and numerous successes against Israeli invaders, mostly showing hits scored against armoured vehicles. Then came the news that stunned Israel and put a big question mark on its official line of Hamas being on the verge of collapse. First, nine soldiers were killed in a single operation in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City on Tuesday. That shock was followed by another one on Friday, with the Israeli army admitting that it killed three Israeli captives, having mistaken them for enemies – even though they held white flags. So what is really happening on the ground in Gaza? Nothing we did not predict weeks ago: The war has entered a difficult, unpredictable and bloody phase of full-scale urban warfare where gains are small and slow, and losses can be huge. Combat in narrow and cramped streets of old cities is known to be one of the most difficult ways to fight a war. Classic military theory calls for defended cities to be surrounded and blockaded by units just strong enough to prevent the defenders from breaking out, while the main force continues advancing and taking territory. But the fight in Gaza is not about conquering fields and beaches – Israel’s proclaimed goal is to destroy Hamas. To do that, the first step is to control the ground where the enemy operates: the cities. Many aspects of warcraft are as ancient as the human urge to fight wars: attack and conquer versus defend and remain free. But the ways of achieving those goals have changed with technology and, at certain times, the means available to soldiers favour one aspect over another. In the old days, cities needed strong walls to defend themselves, but in the last 100 years, weapons have advanced at a rapid rate, causing a change in tactics. Successful resistance against enemy attacks no longer depends on huge, expensive static bastions. Nowadays, small but potent man-portable weapons whose destructive power is hugely disproportionate to their size, such as anti-tank rocket launchers, grenade throwers, small mortars, assault rifles and many others, allow the defenders to turn each house and every street into a formidable defensive position. From the 1940s to this day, almost all attempts to conquer cities held by determined defenders have ended in failure. The few victories attackers achieved were so costly that they often ended the offensive capabilities of those armies pushing into cities. In their own ways, Stalingrad, Warsaw, Berlin, Dien Bien Phu, Vukovar, Sarajevo, Grozny and Fallujah – some successfully defended, others eventually succumbing to attacks – all confirmed the military wisdom that urban warfare should be avoided whenever possible. Israel could not avoid urban warfare in Gaza. To have a chance of destroying Hamas, it has to deny it its operating ground, the three biggest urban agglomerations in the strip: Gaza City, Khan Younis and Rafah. In the first phase of its ground operation, the Israeli army advanced across open ground, through farmland and villages that do not lend themselves to mounting a major defence, only harassing attacks to slow down and dent the invaders. Hamas acted in classic guerrilla fashion, launching some hit-and-run attacks without wasting any effort to stop the Israelis then and there. The second phase started with Israeli forces reaching the suburbs, first of Gaza City and then, after the temporary ceasefire expired, of Khan Younis. Treading slowly and carefully in expectation of a concentrated Hamas response, the Israeli military completed the encirclement of those two urban areas. It would be naive to assume that Israel’s generals hoped that by isolating the two biggest built-up areas in the Gaza Strip, they would seriously impair the ability of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, to fight back. In reality, the encirclement of the two city centres is not a classic one where troops within the blockade cannot be reinforced nor receive any supplies. Hamas still has an unknown but probably major part of its tunnel network intact and can move in and out. They have some difficulties in doing so but Hamas fighters are not locked in. Aware of the menace that tunnels present but also of the grave hazard of taking the fight into them, Israel has tried several approaches. It has destroyed as many tunnel entrances as it has found, mostly in the areas under its control, but many others that remain keep the danger acute. After several attempts to send troops underground that ended in disaster, with troops falling casualty to Hamas booby traps, the high command abandoned that approach. It then reportedly mulled the idea of filling tunnels with seawater, claiming that the test-flooding was successful but it has not yet decided to mount a full-scale deluge operation. This week’s Israeli actions on the ground strongly suggest that the Israeli army leadership realises that the only way towards achieving its proclaimed goal of annihilating Hamas is by taking, holding and controlling the ground throughout the currently surrounded centres of Gaza City and Khan Younis. That in itself would not guarantee victory but could create conditions to squeeze Hamas fighters into tunnels, after which Israeli forces could block and destroy all entrances. Flushing Hamas out would probably take weeks of heavy urban warfare with many more
Al Jazeera to refer journalist Samer Abudaqa’s killing to ICC
The Al Jazeera Arabic cameraman was killed by a drone attack while reporting on the bombing of a school in southern Gaza Strip. The Al Jazeera Media Network says it will refer the killing of its cameraman Samer Abudaqa in Gaza to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In a statement on Saturday, the Qatar-based network said it has instructed its legal team to “urgently” refer the case of what it called “the assassination” of Al Jazeera Arabic cameraman Samer Abudaqa to the court in The Hague. Abudaqa was killed by a drone attack on Friday while reporting on an earlier bombing of a school used as a shelter for displaced people in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Samer Abudaqa [Screengrab/Al Jazeera] “Al Jazeera Media Network reiterates its denunciation and condemnation of the assassination crime of its colleague, Samer Abudaqa, who devoted 19 years with the Network to covering the ongoing conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories,” said the network’s statement. “In addition to the assassination of Abudaqa by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, the legal file will also encompass recurrent attacks on the Network’s crews working and operating in the occupied Palestinian territories and instances of incitement against them.” Targeting journalists is a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute. The media network said it has set up a working group comprising its international legal team and international legal experts to submit a file to the court’s prosecutor. Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Wael Dahdouh – who lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in a previous Israeli bombing – was wounded in the same attack on Friday. He was hit by shrapnel on his upper arm and managed to reach the Nasser Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries. But rescue teams were unable to immediately reach Abudaqa and others at the site as they needed approval from Israeli forces to bulldoze through the debris to get to the location. By the time rescuers arrived five hours after the attack, Abudaqa had bled to death. The 45-year-old was laid to rest in southern Gaza on Saturday, with dozens of mourners, including journalists, paying their respects. “We are carrying this human message, we are carrying this noble message,” Dahdouh said in his eulogy as mourners around him wept. “We will continue to do our duty with professionalism and transparency.” Al Jazeera had previously submitted a formal request to the ICC to investigate and prosecute those responsible for shooting a veteran television reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022 while covering an Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Evidence provided in the request, filed in December 2022, includes a comprehensive six-month investigation by the network, gathering witness accounts and video footage, among other material. The ICC has acknowledged its receipt, yet no further steps have been taken. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says the ongoing conflict in Gaza is the deadliest for journalists ever recorded, with at least 64 reporters and media workers killed in 10 weeks of the enclave’s bombing. The CPJ has also called on the international authorities to “conduct an independent investigation into the attack to hold the perpetrators to account”. Adblock test (Why?)