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Kareem Shaheen

Contributor

Kareem Shaheen is a veteran Middle East correspondent in Canada and a columnist for The National

Lebanon is being forced to relive its traumas

The Lebanese people are desperate for a cure to their country's ills, but instead they are repeatedly presented with old poisons

October 15, 2020

An ethnic Armenian fighter carries Kalashnikov machine guns in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. AP Photo

Turkey is using Syrian rebels as pawns in Azerbaijan

Once the backer of the revolution against the Assad regime, Ankara now recruits rebel soldiers to fight faraway wars

October 8, 2020

Syrian shepherds herd sheep past a US military convoy near the town of Tal Tamr in the northeastern Syrian Hasakeh province, by the border with Turkey, on April 14. Photo by Delil Souleiman / AFP

At the very least, families of ISIS victims deserve answers

With 28 mass graves unearthed, loved ones continue to wait for justice

October 6, 2020

People get exercise along the lakeshore path on Lake Ontario on a fall day during the coronavirus pandemic in Toronto, 29 September. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP

A second lockdown will be especially tough in cold countries

Parts of Canada are reviving stay-at-home measures, adding hardship to an already harsh winter

October 1, 2020

Forest fires in the north-western Syrian coastal province of Latakia. The outbreak coincided with high temperatures and strong winds, according to the official media. AFP

Syria: When war meets bushfires

Forest fires in the Hama region show how ecological losses and battles over resources feed off of each other

September 24, 2020

A girl stands in line to receive aid with a group of women at the Kurdish-run Al Hol camp in north-east Syria where families of ISIS foreign fighters are held, on August 18, 2020. AFP

It is high time the West took responsibility for its role in Syria

If not out of moral rectitude, then to avoid their citizens becoming foot soldiers of the next so-called caliphate

September 17, 2020

A girl looks on in the stairwell of a school building where Syrians — displaced from Ras al-Ain by the Turkish offensive on the northeast — are staying in the city of Hasakah, on June 30. Delil Souleiman / AFP

37 million kids in the Middle East don't have the luxury of remote learning

Even the figure of 463 million children around the world lacking access to education is an underestimation

September 10, 2020

Yemen has had a relatively low number of officially reported cases with 2,000 infections, but that need not represent the full picture. EPA

In the Middle East, Covid-19 optimism risks fading

After a slow start, most countries in the region are struggling with major waves of the virus

September 3, 2020

FC Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies has become the first Canadian citizen to win a trophy in the European Champions League. UEFA via Getty

There would be no Alphonso Davies without open borders

The former child refugee has become the first Canadian ever to win a European Champions League title

August 27, 2020

A Syrian doctor, on her own initiative, instructs children how to properly wear a mask during the Covid-19 outbreak, in a displacement camp in Idlib. AFP

Does the Syrian regime care about the Covid-19 crisis?

The pandemic has affected regions held by the regime and the rebels, but little is being done to tackle it

August 26, 2020

In this February 14, 2005 file photo, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri speaks to people outside the Lebanese Parliament minutes before an explosion killed him and 22 others, in Beirut, Lebanon. AP

Rafik Hariri verdict: Nearly $1bn later, where is the justice?

Even after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon convicted one Hezbollah operative, too many questions remain

August 19, 2020

'Aftermath' by Tom Young, an artist who lives between London and Beirut. A number of Young's paintings were damaged following the blast on August 4. Tom Young

I owe everything to Beirut, and I wish I could be there right now

The seaside city has given so many fond memories, and not even the worst tragedies can take those away

August 10, 2020

Displaced Syrian children outside their tents at a camp near the village of Kafr Lusin, in Idlib's northern countryside near the Syria-Turkey border, October 22, 2019. Aaref Watad / AFP

Domestic violence is the 'shadow pandemic' we need to fix

For women, the economic collapse in several countries is likely to make matters worse

August 6, 2020

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on July 28, 2020 shows a view of the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the centre of the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca, ahead of the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage, with rings laid in place around it to separate pilgrims as part of social distancing measures due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Saudi Arabia begins on July 29 hosting the annual hajj pilgrimage, dramatically downscaled due to the coronavirus pandemic that has barred millions of international pilgrims for the first time in modern history. / AFP / -

Why my heart breaks for those who cannot perform Hajj this year

The serenity I felt during my pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah in 2003 has yet to be matched

July 30, 2020

A Syrian woman casts her ballot at a polling station in the Nubl neighbourhood of Aleppo on July 19. AFP

Syria's parliamentary election was meant to project normality but it was a sham

Nothing is normal in Syria and Bashar Al Assad's international backers are the reason he remains in power

July 23, 2020

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