Four years ago this week, the Syrian government bombed the town of Khan Sheikhoun with chemical weapons. More than 80 people, including women and children, and almost three dozen members of one family, suffocated to death in the dawn attack. It was the second deadliest chemical attack of the war, a culmination of years of war crime upon war crime.
We know this because the facts have been established by multiple UN and independent investigations of the incident. And they have concluded: Sarin gas was used in the April 4, 2017 attack in Khan Sheikhoun and the Assad regime was responsible.
I know this because I was there two days after the attack. I saw the freshly dug graves, the empty warehouse that the regime claimed to have bombed that day, the destroyed hospital that was treating victims. I saw every movement and every word of a father who lost his wife and two infant children in the attack.
The regime of Bashar Al Assad was already ascendant at the time and well on its way to winning the war. What did a few dozen more dead human beings matter when every day brought with it a new atrocity?
As I listened to the stories of the victims and first responders, it was clear the regime deployed a weapon of war that is most insidious in its application, and would likely do so again.
Imagine being betrayed by the very air you breathe. Instead of nourishing you, it exacts a painful death and whose talons grasp at even those who come to rescue you. There is no safe place either, above or below ground. When I visited, it was like only ghosts remained. The goal of tyranny, hatred and terror had been met.
When the sarin attack happened, Abdul Hamid Al Yousef sent his wife and two kids to safety in their basement near the bombing, and rushed to help the survivors. He collapsed and was taken to the hospital, having inhaled toxic gas. When he regained consciousness, he rushed home and found his family dead. His photograph holding them before the burial went viral on social media.
Even then it was clear that justice would not be done for Abdul Hamid’s family. He took comfort in a saying – a hadith, recounted to him by a man sitting next to him at a memorial service I attended, who told him that bearing the loss of his children with patience and forbearance means that on Judgment Day they would be resurrected with wings and fly him to paradise. It was the only time during the service that I saw a glimmer of life in Abdul Hamid's eyes.
I do not know how one carries on after a tragedy like that, especially now that I have a son of my own. I do not know how an entire nation can do that, after 10 years of starvation sieges, torture, barrel bombs, bombs dropped on hospitals, markets, schools, mosques and churches. How do you pick up the pieces when there are no pieces left, when the wrongs are so monumental? How do you make peace if your family has suffocated to death?
I cannot contemplate such a peace without the perpetrators being brought to justice. Peace and reconciliation can only be achieved when there is an honest accounting of the wrongs of the past. When there is accountability for the hundreds of thousands who died in the Syrian war and who were tortured and mutilated in prisons. When those who weaponised the air we breathe are made to answer for their crimes. Some efforts have begun in Europe, but they are not nearly enough.
Khan Sheikhoun was only a landmark along a path littered with atrocities. The crimes were always there for all to see, with Syria being the most well-covered conflict in history. The fact that such cruelty was allowed to continue with impunity is not a failure of journalism. It is a failure of humanity.
In Syria, hospitals were bombed without consequence. Because of Syria, indiscriminate bombing, ethnic cleansing, hunger as a weapon of war, and chemical attacks were accepted as normal. And we knew about it every time. The facts are evident for those who wish to see.
On the way out of Khan Sheikhoun, I went to the local cemetery. The cinnamon-coloured earth was freshly dug, most of the gravestones still unmarked. I said a prayer before leaving. I hope we will have more than unanswered prayers to show in four more years, for the families of the town and thousands of others across Syria.
Kareem Shaheen is a veteran Middle East correspondent in Canada and a columnist for The National
Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
GIANT REVIEW
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Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
The specs: 2018 Audi RS5
Price, base: Dh359,200
Engine: 2.9L twin-turbo V6
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 450hp at 5,700rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 1,900rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.7L / 100km
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Company%20Profile
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Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier, in Bangkok
UAE fixtures Mon Nov 20, v China; Tue Nov 21, v Thailand; Thu Nov 23, v Nepal; Fri Nov 24, v Hong Kong; Sun Nov 26, v Malaysia; Mon Nov 27, Final
(The winners will progress to the Global Qualifier)
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Thursday (All UAE kick-off times)
Sevilla v Real Betis (midnight)
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
MATCH INFO
FA Cup final
Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
EA Sports FC 24
SPECS
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Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
The specs: 2019 Subaru Forester
Price, base: Dh105,900 (Premium); Dh115,900 (Sport)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 182hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 239Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.1L / 100km (estimated)
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
The specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 849Nm
Range: 456km
Price: from Dh437,900
On sale: now
