The UAE has ended its aid operation to assist people in Syria and Turkey affected by the earthquake and aftershocks that shook the region in February.
Five months on, the UAE's Operation Gallant Knight 2 – launched by the Joint Operations Command of the Ministry of Defence in response to the disaster – has drawn to a close, the ministry announced.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed more than 50,000 people and 100,000 were injured.
The UAE was one of the first countries to respond to the disaster with aid.
It ranks among the country's most successful joint endeavours conducted by domestic entities
Ministry of Defence
President Sheikh Mohamed directed the launch of Operation Gallant Knight 2 on February 6 to supply humanitarian and medical aid.
It established an air bridge to transport urgent relief supplies, medical items and equipment through 260 flights.
The Gallant Knight operation included the participation of the UAE Armed Forces, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation and Emirates Red Crescent (ERC).
The UAE also sent a search and rescue team to look for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings. The team spent nearly 240 hours working in rescue operations involving 42 people. A total of 13,463 medical cases were treated.
The UAE donated search and rescue equipment to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and trained civil defence staff in Latakia.
Some of the victims were flown to the UAE for specialist treatment.
Weeks after the quake hit, Sheikha Fatima, Mother of the Nation, directed authorities in the UAE to arrange treatment for some of those injured in Syria, including children, in UAE hospitals.
Humanitarian aid
The ERC led the UAE's aid delivery of food parcels, drugs and medical supplies to earthquake victims and established a temporary shelter with 50 tents for those affected.
The delegation accompanying the ERC team donated medical supplies and drugs to the Syrian Ministry of Health and the UAE also provided Syria with 10 ambulances equipped with the latest technology.
The Gallant Knight operation provided 2,700 daily meals during Ramadan in Latakia, Aleppo, Hama and Homs governorates in Syria, as well as 19,371 Ramadan Ration parcels in Latakia for 96,855 people, along with 4,000 Ramadan parcels daily, reaching 500,000 people.
During Eid Al Fitr, the initiative donated clothes to 4,290 families in four governorates, helping 17,160 Syrians and distributing 20,000 bags of rice and flour in four governorates.
During Eid Al Adha, the ERC distributed 2,000 pieces of sacrificial meat in Latakia, Aleppo, Hama and Homs, which assisted 100,000 families.
At the end of the operation, the Ministry of Defence said 15,164 tonnes of aid were delivered, which included 6,912 tonnes of urgent aid materials, including tents, basic food and medicine and 8,252 tonnes of humanitarian aid transported through four cargo ships.
In addition, the operation helped set up the construction of 1,500 private homes.
The ministry described Gallant Knight as one of the most successful such operations the UAE had undertaken.
"The operation's goal was to aid our affected brethren and friends during the Turkey and Syria earthquake," it said.
"It ranks among the country's most successful joint endeavours conducted by domestic entities."
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
The biog
Full name: Aisha Abdulqader Saeed
Age: 34
Emirate: Dubai
Favourite quote: "No one has ever become poor by giving"
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
RESULT
Brazil 2 Croatia 0
Brazil: Neymar (69'), Firmino (90' 3)
The specs: 2019 Audi A8
Price From Dh390,000
Engine 3.0L V6 turbo
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 345hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy, combined 7.5L / 100km
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
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Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
