DUBAI: Yahya Nabil Kabbara has always been perceived as academically distinguished, but not athletically, due to being subjected to nightmarish waves of bullying over his obesity since childhood.
A Lebanese math teacher, Kabbara chose his own method to fight bullying by swimming 5.5 km to a rocky island off Lebanon’s coast to prove that “being overweight doesn’t impede oneself from notching achievements.”
Since a teenager, friends and classmates never allowed Kabbara to play any sport with them because they said his “obesity makes them lose.”
“That left a scar in me and pushed me to set that personal challenge to swim to the furthest island off Tripoli’s seashore,” Kabbara told Arab News.
Born in the northern Lebanese city in 1987, the 34-year-old tutor currently teaches math for secondary classes at a public high school.
Commonly known as “Araneb Island” or “Rabbit’s Island,” his target is the biggest of three flat rocky islands that constitute the Palm Islands Nature Reserve. The three islands’ area is around 4.2 sq km.
On Sunday, Sept. 19, Kabbara put on a pair of paddles, jumped into the ocean and swam for nearly four-and-a-half hours until he reached Rabbit’s Island.
Having once weighed over 140kg, Kabbara has been training seriously by swimming, walking, hiking, mountain climbing and preparing himself mentally and physically to be able to fulfill what he describes as a “personal challenge and a message to all those who bullied him for being overweight.”
He added: “Classmates and friends never allowed me to play any sport with them because, according to them, my obesity always made them lose. That hurt me a lot … it left an aching scar in me that I always stayed alone. My family once thought I had autism,” he said.
Coming from a hardworking family, Kabbara started teaching at the age of 14 because he adores the profession and needed to earn pocket money to support his father.
Despite having two doctorates, he could not land a university job because, according to him, “you need a wasta (support from a politician or influential person), meanwhile I’ve never been affiliated to or supported any Lebanese politician.”
In 2015, Kabbara obtained a Ph.D. in applied Mathematics at the Lebanese University while also picking up a doctorate from Paris-Est Creteil University in France.
The father of a nine-month-old daughter said the fact that he was constantly bullied at youth pushed him to work “seriously and really hard” on his fitness to prove to others that being overweight “should not cripple oneself from fulfilling their goals.”
“At a certain point of my life I realized that I have fulfilled a lot academically and that the time has come for me to accomplish something physical,” he said, reiterating that he set up his swimming challenge “to prove to himself and others that with perseverance any goal is attainable.”
Kabbara explained that the idea to swim to Rabbit’s Island was like a dream to him since childhood.
When the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) surfaced in early 2020, the 34-year-old had still been suffering from obesity and feared that lockdowns would force him to gain more weight and feel “desolate and depressed.”
“But I told myself ‘no.’ I walked as much as possible and swam a lot after borrowing my cousin’s paddles. I love swimming so I swam 300 meters, then 500. In November I swam to the nearest island, Al-Ballan. It took me an hour. Then I went to the second island of Al-Rmayleh,” said Kabbara.
“All I wanted to do is accomplish my goal and prove to myself and others that everything is possible,” concluded Kabbara, who said that he had dropped his weight to 109kg.
Lebanese teacher swims 5.5 km to island off Tripoli coast to challenge obesity bullies
https://arab.news/y9xwt
Lebanese teacher swims 5.5 km to island off Tripoli coast to challenge obesity bullies
- Double Ph.D., Yahya Kabbara, was bullied as a youth for being obese until he ‘notched a physical success’
- “Classmates and friends never allowed me to play any sport with them because, according to them, my obesity always made them lose,” he told Arab News
Istanbul toll from tainted alcohol rises to 19 dead in 48 hours
- The figure raised a toll given late Tuesday of 11 dead in 24 hours, Anadolu said
- A total of 65 people were affected, with 43 people still being treated in hospital and three others discharged
ISTANBUL: Nineteen people who drank tainted alcohol in Istanbul have died in the past 48 hours, with dozens more being treated for poisoning, the Anadolu news agency reported Wednesday.
The figure raised a toll given late Tuesday of 11 dead in 24 hours, Anadolu said.
A total of 65 people were affected, with 43 people still being treated in hospital and three others discharged.
Among them were 26 foreign nationals, the agency said without saying if any had died.
There was no immediate comment from the health ministry.
"The death toll is rising," wrote Istanbul governor Davut Gul on X late Tuesday, saying the "licences of 63 business selling counterfeit alcohol were cancelled and they were closed".
One of those was a business posing as a restaurant that was selling counterfeit alcohol in water bottles for 30 lira ($0.85) each, the private NTV channel said.
In 2024, 110 people fell ill after drinking tainted alcohol in Istanbul, of whom 48 died, the governorate said.
Alcohol tainted with methanol is thought to be the cause, methanol being a toxic substance that can be added to liquor to increase its potency but which can cause blindness, liver damage and death.
Poisonings from adulterated alcohol are quite common in Türkiye, where private production has shot up as authorities crank up taxes on alcoholic drinks.
The most commonly faked product is raki, Türkiye’s aniseed-flavoured national liquor whose price has leapt to around 1,300 lira ($37.20) a litre in supermarkets.
On January 1, Türkiye’s minimum wage rose to 22,104 lira ($600).
Türkiye’s authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been accused of trying to Islamise society in the officially secular state, has often criticised the consumption of alcohol and tobacco.
Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 27 Palestinians
- The civil defense agency said in a statement that 11 bodies were brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital
- A seven-year-old boy and three teenagers were among the dead
GAZA STRIP: Gaza’s civil defense agency said on Wednesday that Israeli strikes killed at least 27 people, as the military issued new evacuation calls in northern areas of the Palestinian territory.
The latest Israeli strikes come as truce mediator Qatar said negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza were in their “final stages.”
The civil defense agency said in a statement that 11 bodies were brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip, after Israel struck a family home in Deir el-Balah city during the night.
A seven-year-old boy and three teenagers were among the dead, the agency said.
A separate strike targeted a school building used as shelter for war-displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, killing seven people and injuring several others, the civil defense agency said.
A third strike at dawn hit a house in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, killing six people and injuring seven, the agency added.
Another three people were killed when the Israeli military targeted the Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, the agency said.
The Israeli military confirmed that its forces had carried out multiple strikes overnight in Gaza, saying in a statement that they were “precise” and targeted “terrorist operatives.”
In the past 24 hours, the military said it had struck more than 50 targets across the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military on Wednesday issued a new evacuation call in Arabic for the northern Gaza city of Jabalia, warning residents to move south to Gaza City before it attacks the area.
Jabalia and its surrounding areas have been the focus of an intense Israeli military operation since October 2023, causing thousands of displaced and shortages of everything for those remaining.
The army says it is fighting Hamas militants who have regrouped in the area.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched the deadliest attack in Israeli history, resulting in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 46,707 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory which the UN considers reliable.
UN rights chief says transitional justice ‘crucial’ in Syria
- “The enforced disappearances, the torture, the use of chemical weapons, among other atrocity crimes, must be fully investigated,” Turk said
- “And then justice must be served, fairly and impartially”
DAMASCUS: United Nations rights chief Volker Turk on Wednesday said transitional justice was “crucial” for Syria after the fall of Bashar Assad, during the first-ever visit by someone in his post to the country.
“Transitional justice is crucial as Syria moves forward,” the UN high commissioner for human rights said.
“Revenge and vengeance are never the answer.”
The United Nations has said Assad’s fall must be followed by accountability for him and others behind the crimes committed during his rule.
“The enforced disappearances, the torture, the use of chemical weapons, among other atrocity crimes, must be fully investigated,” Turk said, alluding notably to accusations Assad used sarin gas against his own people.
“And then justice must be served, fairly and impartially,” he said at a press conference in Damascus.
Since Islamist-led rebels seized Damascus last month, the new authorities have sought to reassure Syrians and the international community that they will respect the rights of minorities in rebuilding the country.
Turk said that, during his visit, he and the country’s new leader Ahmed Sharaa had discussed “the opportunities and challenges awaiting this new Syria.”
“He acknowledged and assured me of the importance of respect for human rights for all Syrians and all different components of Syrian society,” Turk said.
He said Sharaa also backed “the pursuit of healing, trust building and social cohesion and the reform of institutions.”
Turk also called for an easing of certain sanctions imposed on Syria under Assad’s rule.
“I... call for an urgent reconsideration of... sanctions with a view to lifting them,” he said, that they had had “a negative impact on the enjoyment of rights” of Syrian people.
Turk said he had visited Syria’s notorious Saydnaya prison and met with a former detainee, “a former soldier suspected of being a defector.”
“He told me of the cruel treatment he endured. I cannot even bear to share the stories of beatings and torture that he shared with me,” he said.
Negotiators resume talks on final details of Gaza ceasefire deal
- Despite efforts to reach ceasefire, the Israeli military, Shin Bet internal intelligence agency and air force attacked 50 targets throughout Gaza over last 24 hours
DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Negotiators in Qatar resumed talks on Wednesday hoping to hammer out the final details of a complex, phased ceasefire in Gaza aiming to end a conflict that has inflicted widespread death and destruction and upended the Middle East.
Officials from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US as well as Israel and Hamas said on Tuesday that an agreement for a truce in the besieged Palestinian enclave and the release of hostages was closer than ever.
But a senior Hamas official told Reuters late on Tuesday that the Palestinian group had not yet delivered its response because it was still waiting for Israel to submit maps showing how its forces would withdraw from Gaza.
During months of on-off talks to achieve a truce in the devastating 15-month-old war, both sides have previously said they were close to a ceasefire only to hit last-minute obstacles. The broad outlines of the current deal have been in place since mid-2024.
If successful, the planned phased ceasefire could halt fighting that has decimated Gaza, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, displaced most of the enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million and is still killing dozens of people a day.
That in turn could ease tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has fueled conflict in the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between Israel and Iran.
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed across its borders on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 46,700 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave.
Palestinians were once again hoping the latest talks would deliver some relief from Israeli air strikes, and ease a deep humanitarian crisis.
“We are waiting for the ceasefire and the truce. May God complete it for us in goodness, bless us with peace, and allow us to return to our homes,” said Amal Saleh, 54, a Gazan displaced by the war.
“Even if the schools are bombed, destroyed, and ruined, we just want to know that we are finally living in peace.”
Under the plan, Israel would recover around 100 remaining hostages and bodies from among those captured in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel that precipitated the war. In return it would free Palestinian detainees.
The latest draft is complicated and sensitive. Under its terms, the first steps would feature a six-week initial ceasefire.
The plan also includes a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from central Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to the north of the enclave.
The deal would also require Hamas to release 33 Israeli hostages along with other steps.
The draft stipulates negotiations over a second phase of the agreement to begin by the 16th day of phase one. Phase two includes the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli soldiers.
Even if the warring sides agree to the deal on the table, that agreement still needs further negotiation before there is a final ceasefire and the release of all the hostages
If it all goes smoothly, the Palestinians, Arab states and Israel still need to agree on a vision for post-war Gaza, a massive task involving security guarantees for Israel and billions of dollars in investment for rebuilding.
One unanswered question is who will run Gaza after the war.
Israel has rejected any involvement by Hamas, which ran Gaza before the war, but it has been almost equally opposed to rule by the Palestinian Authority, the body set up under the Oslo interim peace accords three decades ago that has limited governing power in the West Bank.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said on Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority must be the sole governing power in Gaza after the war.
Israeli attacks
Despite the efforts to reach a ceasefire, the Israeli military, the Shin Bet internal intelligence agency and the air force attacked about 50 targets throughout Gaza over the last 24 hours, Shin Bet and the military said in a statement on Wednesday.
Israeli strikes killed at least 13 Palestinians across the enclave. Those included seven people who were in a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City, and six others killed in separate airstrikes on houses in Deir Al-Balah, Bureij camp and Rafah, medics said.
Families of hostages in Israel were caught between hope and despair.
“We can’t miss this moment. This is the last moment; we can save them,” said Hadas Calderon, whose husband Ofer and children Sahar and Erez were abducted.
Israel says 98 hostages are being held in Gaza, about half of whom are believed to be alive. They include Israelis and non-Israelis. Of the total, 94 were seized in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and four have been held in Gaza since 2014.
Israel struck Gaza ‘humanitarian zone’ almost 100 times, BBC analysis finds
- Naval, aerial attacks hit stretch of land housing more than 1m Palestinians
- ‘Heavy fire is recurrent in this area despite Israel’s unilateral ‘humanitarian designation,’ says aid official
LONDON: The Israeli military hit its own designated “humanitarian zone” in Gaza 97 times since May, analysis by the BBC has shown.
Israel established the area in October 2023, and told Palestinians in Gaza to relocate there for safety.
It was later expanded to include the urban centers of Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah.
Despite intending to “keep innocent civilians out of harms way,” Israeli forces struck buildings within the zone 97 times since May 2024, according to BBC Verify.
The area covers a significant and densely populated strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea.
More than 1 million people — many living in tents — are believed to be living inside the Israeli-imposed zone, humanitarian groups have said.
Since the new year, Israel has carried out at least 22 strikes in the area.
The 97 strikes since last May have killed 550 Palestinians.
Israeli military officials have acknowledged 28 of the attacks, and the BBC said it could not confirm that all 97 are the result of Israeli operations.
In a statement to the BBC, the Israeli military said that it was targeting Hamas fighters in the “humanitarian zone.”
It accused Hamas of international law violations, using civilians as human shields and launching rockets from the zone.
Gavin Kelleher, Gaza access manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council, told the BBC that Israel had conducted “near daily” strikes inside the zone, using naval vessels and drones.
“Heavy fire is recurrent in this area despite its (Israel’s) unilateral ‘humanitarian’ designation,” he added.
“The Israeli military appears keen to maintain the illusion of a ‘humanitarian zone’ that remains a certain size, yet that zone can be subject to ‘evacuation orders’ at any time and be targeted.”
One resident in the zone, Khaled Abdel Rahman, told the BBC that fear was “dominating the lives” of Palestinians in the area.
“We were displaced to Khan Younis because it was designated as a safe zone, but in fact we find nothing here but insecurity,” he said.
Due to Israel’s ban on foreign media operating in Gaza, BBC Verify used Palestinian and Israeli social media channels to document the strikes.
Researchers analyzed more than 300 photos and videos posted from the “humanitarian zone” since May.
The deadliest strike in the area came on July 13, and killed more than 90 Palestinians, Gaza’s Health Ministry, medics and first responders said.
Nine strikes hit within 100 meters of buildings belonging to Al-Aqsa Hospital complex in Deir Al-Balah.
Four struck within 150 meters of Khan Younis’ Nasser Medical Complex.
The Israeli military told the BBC that the attacks were launched “against terrorists and terror infrastructures including rocket launchers, weapons warehouse and manufacturing sites, operational apartments, underground infrastructure, operational headquarters and terrorist hideouts.”
