Beshara | The National

Welcome to The National's weekly newsletter Beshara, where we share the most positive stories of the week.

Snow in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. AFP

As we fast approach the end of the year, many of us across the newsroom are looking back on the defining moments of 2025 and also ahead for what to expect in 2026. We at The National enjoy working as your eyes and ears on the world. Journalists are also your memory – your chroniclers of history as it happens, and your analysts, studying signals from the past and the present to anticipate what could come next.

Throughout these last weeks, before we ring in the New Year, you will see and hear from many of our dedicated reporters and editors sharing stories and insights on the past 12 months – both good and bad – but all with lessons we can learn.

This week’s Beshara looks back on the brightest moments, and I’ll see you next week for the excitement ahead.

Best wishes always,

Syrians celebrate the US announcing it will lift sanctions on the country in May. Anadolu

But first, to the regional shifts in the right direction. This past week, some positive developments reminded us of the progress we’ve seen across Syria, Lebanon and Gaza this past year. While tentative and fragile, key turning points have renewed hope for their populations, millions of people who for so long have borne the brunt of conflict or corruption.

While the situation is still so far from the real, tangible resolution the world awaits and hunger levels remain critical, famine has been reversed in Gaza.

The permanent lifting by the US of its so-called Caesar sanctions on Syria will pave the way for the return of investment in the country.

Lebanon’s announcement that it is close to disarming Hezbollah indicates a chance for the country to strengthen its governance.

As Paul Salem asks in his op-ed: after the changes over the past year, might the Levant – in particular Syria and Lebanon – be on course to re-establishing sovereignty, functioning statehood and economic revival?

- An anonymous reader wrote to us about Lizzie Porter’s Aleppo rises from ruins report and was featured in our weekly Feedback column. You can have your say on recent news, too - here

One of the best photos taken by our staff photographers in the UAE this year, at the Dubai Airshow. Chris Whiteoak / The National

From the picture desk to our feature writers, we have a raft of round-ups to remind you of the highlights of 2025.

These incredible images from The National’s photographers are unsurpassed in their summing up of the diversity and joy of life in the UAE this past year.

And if you were lucky enough, though none as lucky as Saeed Saeed, you may have been at one of these top 20 live shows that graced the Emirates this year.

But if you’re reading from afar, or just prefer a show from your sofa, this collaborative effort is a reminder of the best of the small screen, and William Mullally, our resident award-winning film critic, shares his list of the best Arab films that hit the big screen.

More into books, art or gaming? We have you covered, too. This is your list of unmissable memoirs, Faisal Al Zaabi has your gaming lookback covered and last but certainly not least – these were the best UAE exhibitions of the past 12 months.