DAMASCUS //A year ago, the amusement park on the outskirts of Damascus was jammed with suburbanites celebrating the first day of Eid.
Families with young children were out enjoying the holiday, teenage boys and girls paraded up and down in their sharpest clothes, showing off their new hairstyles.
This year only a smattering of people rode the whirling machines and even the din of loud pop music could not drown out the sound and shockwaves from mortar shells exploding a kilometre or so away.
East of the brightly lit, slow-turning Ferris wheel, a burst of luminous red tracer bullets cut through the darkening evening sky, accompanied by the dull hammering of a heavy machinegun.
The small amusement park, on the southern edge of Damascus, lies between Daraya and Sahnaya, the line at which the urban sprawl of the capital begins to give way to patches of farmland and middle-class housing.
It offers a handful of rides - bumper cars, a headache-inducing swing, a carousel, a miniature train - and, with tickets so cheap they're almost given away, it is wildly popular on the special occasions it opens. The main road gets clogged with cars, buses and small hand-pushed carts selling candyfloss, popcorn and balloons. Local cafes and fast-food restaurants do a roaring trade.
Last Eid holiday the uprising was just entering its sixth month and, although 2,200 people had already been killed according to a UN count, at the fairground it was business as usual, at least on the surface.
Even then, a closer look revealed the pressures tearing at Syria. Some in the crowd were refugees from the southern city of Deraa, the crucible of the revolt. Families had fled a series of military assaults there and, seeking shelter in the respectable suburbs of Damascus, some had taken young children along to enjoy the amusements and, by providing a slice of normality, distract them from the horrors they had seen.
Those refugees spoke of the uprising having just started. The real tidal wave was just gathering strength, they said, and would surely wash over the entire country, including the capital and its second city, Aleppo.
Many Damascenes and those living in its more affluent suburbs were, back then, still hard at work ignoring the revolt. It was something they heard about on the news but didn't see with their own eyes. Plenty were still insisting it was a fabrication of the media and activists' imaginations, rather than anything real.
Even some of those who did believe their country was in the grip of a grassroots uprising were as likely to shrug it off as something affecting the provinces, places such as Hama, Homs and Deraa, and likely to be short-lived. They drew the front line far from Damascus.
With some notable exceptions - districts such as Midan and Qaboun - the capital had not yet heard much shooting, let alone shelling, tank fire or attacks by helicopter gunships. The uprising was curiously distant from the city and, in the minds of many of its residents, it would never arrive.
Now it has. The front lines have shifted, they've reached Damascus.
Only metres from the fairground, a new army checkpoint was thrown up in the street. It was attacked by rebels the following morning - yesterday, the second day of Eid - as an attack helicopter circled overhead, firing long bursts from its machineguns into the southern suburbs below.
Plumes of grey smoke rose above the skyline from a barrage of mortars fired into Daraya.
The struggle for Damascus has not yet matched the scale of Aleppo, which is in the grip of a full-scale war, but everyone in the city has now heard the shelling, shooting and bombing. Few people seem to believe recent claims by the government to have routed the rebels in Damascus: instead they see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears that the conflict is raging.
Twelve months after the fairground was last open for post-Ramadan celebrations, rights monitors say upwards of 23,000 have been killed - ten times its level at the same point last year. The UN no longer even counts the dead and wounded, the country too dangerous for its monitoring teams to work in even with the protection of armoured cars and bulletproof vests.
Quieter, safer neighbourhoods of Damascus and its suburbs are bracing for the time when they are also pulled fully, finally into the maelstrom of the revolt, and what is already a broader battle for the Middle East.
For now they cope with assassinations, gunfights, checkpoints, fuel shortages, soaring food prices and an influx of refugees from other areas, more directly in the firing line. All the time, the shells fall closer.
The fairground is still open - just - but with exploding mortars and machine-gun fire now the soundtrack to an evening at the amusement park, it may not be for much longer.
psands@thenational.ae
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Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
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Match info:
Real Betis v Sevilla, 10.45pm (UAE)
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
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Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
Red Sparrow
Dir: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Egerton, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons
Three stars
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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AIR
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