Dubai: Roasted by summer temperatures too hot for the beach, Dubai has turned to an innovative solution: opening them at night, complete with floodlights and lifeguards carrying night-vision binoculars.
The idea, in one of the world’s hottest regions, with temperatures climbing ever higher through climate change, has proved popular — more than one million people have visited the night beaches since last year, an official said.
Even with much of the region preoccupied with the widening conflict that pits Israel against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, the United Arab Emirates’ giant neighbor, the night beaches remain busy on weekend evenings.
“The temperature drops down in the evening after the sun sets. So, yeah, it’s amazing,” said Mohammed, 32, from Pakistan, who brought his children to enjoy the sea without having to worry about the burning Gulf sun.
For residents of Dubai, a coast-hugging, desert metropolis of about 3.7 million people, the hot season from June to October is an annual trial.
With temperatures regularly topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), often with high humidity, outdoor activities are severely limited.
The city now has more than 800 meters (yards) of designated night beaches fitted with shark nets and illuminated by giant, bright floodlights.
“While you’re... bathing inside the water, you can see the sand even on your foot and your hands and everything,” said Mohammed, who has lived in Dubai for a decade.
Lifeguards are posted 24 hours a day and, beyond the floodlights’ glare, they use the night-vision binoculars to keep an eye on swimmers or kayakers further out in the water.
Officials are also testing an artificial intelligence camera system meant to detect when people are in distress.
At nearly midnight on a recent Friday, with temperatures still above 30C (86F), Umm Suqeim beach was packed with people — mainly expatriates, who make up about 90 percent of the UAE’s population.
Mary Bayarka, a 38-year-old fitness coach from Belarus, was enjoying being outside after a “long, hot day,” even if the Gulf seawater was a little warm.
“It feels like (I’m) in a bath,” she said.
Nearby, Filipino saleswoman Laya Manko was burying her body in the sand. The beach is an escape for the 36-year-old, one of the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who keep Dubai’s economy ticking.
“Every weekend we come here to have fun,” she said. “Sometimes we sleep here with my friends.
“Because you work hard in Dubai, you feel you need to relax. Yes, this is my stress reliever,” said Manko.
For the authorities, the night beaches are another way to tempt tourists, especially in summer when the stifling heat usually keeps them indoors.
“I believe we are one of the only cities in the world to have such infrastructure on public beaches at night,” said Hamad Shaker, an official from the Dubai municipality.
Dubai used to empty out in summer as expats fled the heat in droves, said Manuela Gutberlet, a tourism researcher at the University of Breda in the Netherlands.
But with attractions such as the world’s tallest building, giant malls and indoor amusement parks, it has become “a year-round urban destination,” attracting more than 17 million visitors last year, she said.
However, climate change could limit its ambitions, Gutberlet warned, citing the unprecedented rains that paralyzed the city for several days in April.
Extreme weather events and a further rise in temperatures could discourage some visitors, she said, highlighting the need to “adapt quickly to new risks.”
Meanwhile, Frenchman Laziz Ahmed, 77, found himself on the night beach during his first holiday in Dubai, where he was visiting relatives.
“During the day, I don’t go out much,” he said, adding that in the evening “I make up for it.”
Too hot by day, Dubai’s floodlit beaches are packed at night
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Too hot by day, Dubai’s floodlit beaches are packed at night
- The city has more than 800 meters of designated night beaches fitted with shark nets and illuminated by giant, bright floodlights
- The idea, in one of the world’s hottest regions, with temperatures climbing ever higher through climate change, has proved popular
WHO demands Israel release Gaza hospital director
- Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital director is being held by Israel’s military following a major raid on facility
- Assault on Kamal Adwan left northern Gaza’s last major health facility out of service, says WHO
GENEVA: The WHO chief called Monday for the immediate release of Hossam Abu Safiyeh, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, who is being held by Israel’s military following a major raid on the facility.
The Friday-Saturday assault on Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahia left northern Gaza’s last major health facility out of service and emptied of patients, the World Health Organization said.
“Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza is out of service following the raid, forced patient and staff evacuation and the detention of its director. His whereabouts are unknown. We call for his immediate release.”
Israel’s military said Sunday that its forces had killed approximately 20 Palestinian militants and apprehended “240 terrorists” in the raid, calling it one of its “largest operations” conducted in the territory.
The military also said had detained Abu Safiyeh, suspecting him of being a Hamas militant. When asked if he had been transferred to Israeli territory for further questioning, the military did not offer an immediate comment.
Tedros said the patients in critical condition at Kamal Adwan had been moved to the Indonesian Hospital, “which is itself out of function.”
“Amid ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, WHO and partners today delivered basic medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to Indonesian Hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to Al-Shifa Hospital,” he said.
“We urge Israel to ensure their health care needs and rights are upheld.”
He said seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remained at the “severely damaged” Indonesian Hospital, “which has no ability to provide care.”
“Al-Ahli Hospital and Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City also faced attacks today and both are damaged,” Tedros added.
“We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals. People in Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid.”
Since October 6 this year, Israeli operations in Gaza have focused on the north, with officials saying their land and air offensive aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Gulf cooperation council chief affirms support for Syria during visit
- Al-Budaiwi condemned the repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory
RIYADH: Jasem Al-Budaiwi, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), met on Monday with Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa in the capital Damascus, the Saudi Press Agency said.
Al-Budaiwi said the visit affirms the GCC’s support for Syria’s unity and stability to achieve security, prosperity, and development for the Syrian people.
The secretary-general, who was accompanied by Kuwait’s FM Abdullah Al-Yahya, said that the Gulf countries have always stressed the need to respect Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, reject foreign interventions, and combat terrorism and extremism, while respecting religious and cultural diversity in the country.
He condemned the repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, calling on Israel to withdraw its forces from occupied Syrian lands.
Al-Budaiwi stressed that the Golan Heights are Syrian land and rejected any Israeli settlement expansion in the plateau.
He reiterated the need to lift economic sanctions on Syria and provide humanitarian and economic support to the Syrian people to alleviate their suffering and enhance efforts to rebuild the country.
He stressed the importance of supporting national reconciliation, rebuilding the Syrian state, ensuring civilian safety, the decision to dissolve militias and armed factions, and confining weapons to the state’s control.
The GCC “welcomes the UN's call to establish a special mission to support the political transition process in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter to help the Syrian people achieve a Syrian-led political process,” Al-Budaiwi said.
Syria appoints some foreign Islamist fighters to its military, sources say
- Thousands of foreigners joined Syria’s rebels early in the 13-year civil war to fight against the rule of Bashar Assad and the Iran-backed Shiite militias who supported him, giving the conflict a sectarian overtone
DAMASCUS: Syria’s new rulers have installed some foreign fighters including Uyghurs, a Jordanian and a Turk in the country’s armed forces as Damascus tries to shape a patchwork of rebel groups into a professional military, two Syrian sources said.
The move to give official roles, including senior ones, to several militants may alarm some foreign governments and Syrian citizens fearful about the new administration’s intentions, despite its pledges not to export Islamic revolution and to rule with tolerance toward Syria’s large minority groups.
A Syrian government spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment on the thinking behind the appointments.
The sources said that out of a total of almost 50 military roles announced by the Defense Ministry on Sunday, at least six had gone to foreigners.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the nationalities of the individuals appointed.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Some foreign rebel leaders given senior military roles in Syria
• Move is ‘token of recognition’ of war role, source says
• HTS leader Sharaa purged some foreign fighters, now offers others citizenship
• China labels TIP a terrorist group, concerned about Uyghur militants
Thousands of Sunni Muslim foreigners joined Syria’s rebels early in the 13-year civil war to fight against the rule of Bashar Assad and the Iran-backed Shiite militias who supported him, giving the conflict a sectarian overtone.
Some foreign fighters formed their own armed groups while others joined established formations such as Daesh as it rampaged across Iraq and Syria, briefly declaring a so-called caliphate before being routed by US and Iran-backed forces.
Other groups of foreign militants joined HTS, which disavowed previous links to Al-Qaeda and Daesh and fought bloody battles against them before going on to spearhead the lightning advance that toppled Assad on Dec. 8.
Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the HTS-leader-turned de facto ruler of Syria, has purged dozens of foreign jihadi fighters as part of a campaign to Syrianize and moderate his group.
In remarks broadcast on Sunday, Sharaa said the new Syria “cannot be run by the mentality of groups and militias.”
Syria’s new rulers, drawn mainly from HTS, have indicated that foreign fighters and their families may be given Syrian citizenship and be allowed to stay in the country because of their contributions to the fight against Assad.
The Defense Ministry on Sunday announced 49 appointments to the army that included leaders of key Syrian armed factions.
Among them were several foreign fighters, three given the rank of brigadier-general and at least three others the rank of colonel, a Syrian military source said.
’TOKEN OF RECOGNITION’
“This is a small token of recognition for the sacrifices Islamist militants gave to our struggle for freedom from Assad’s oppression,” an HTS source told Reuters.
Chinese Uyghur militant Abdulaziz Dawood Khudaberdi, also known as Zahid and the commander of the separatist Turkistan Islamic Party’s (TIP) forces in Syria, was appointed a brigadier-general, a TIP statement said and the Syrian military source confirmed.
Two other Uyghur fighters, Mawlan Tarsoun Abdussamad and Abdulsalam Yasin Ahmad, were given the rank of colonel, said the TIP statement published on its website, congratulating them and the Uyghur community on the appointments.
All the names appear in Sunday’s Defense Ministry announcement, though the nationalities are not included.
The TIP is thought to have hundreds of fighters in Syria and aims to establish a Daesh in parts of China and central Asia, where there is a large Uyghur Muslim population.
Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in the western region of Xinjiang, including the mass use of forced labor in camps. Beijing denies any abuses.
There was no immediate comment from the Chinese foreign ministry.
China labels the TIP a terrorist organization responsible for plots to attack overseas Chinese targets. Beijing has said TIP “gravely threatens” China’s interests and security overseas and that combating the group was China’s “core concern” in its counter-terrorism effort.
Turkish citizen Omar Mohammed Jaftashi and Jordanian citizen Abdul Rahman Hussein Al-Khatib were also made brigadier-generals, the Syrian military source and the HTS source said.
Abdul Jashari, an ethnically Albanian fighter also known as Abu Qatada Al-Albani, was appointed colonel, the military source said.
Jashari head the Albanian militant group Xhemati Alban and was designated a militant by the US Treasury in 2016.
Egyptian Alaa Mohammed Abdel-Baqi was also given a military rank, the source said.
Egypt’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel army says intercepted missile launched from Yemen
- The latest warnings from top Israeli officials came after a missile fired by the Houthis wounded 16 people in Israel’s main commercial city of Tel Aviv
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military on Monday said that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it crossed into Israeli territory.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been firing missiles and drones at Israel and ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in what they describe as solidarity with Palestinians since the war in the Gaza Strip broke out in October of last year.
In recent weeks, they have claimed to have fired several missiles at Israel, triggering retaliatory strikes from Israel targeting the rebels’ strategic assets and infrastructure.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in central Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF (air force) prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
Israel’s emergency service provider, Magen David Adom, reported that it had received no reports of any casualties so far.
On Saturday, Israel intercepted a similar missile launched from Yemen.
The Iran-backed Houthis have controlled large parts of Yemen since seizing Sanaa and ousting the government in 2014.
They have stepped up their attacks since November’s ceasefire between Israel and another Iran-backed group, Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has also struck Yemen, including targeting Sanaa’s international airport on Thursday.
An Israeli statement said its targets included “military infrastructure” at the airport and power stations in Sanaa and Hodeida — a major entry point for humanitarian aid — as well as other facilities at several ports.
Houthis use these sites “to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials,” the statement said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the Houthis, saying that Israeli strikes against them would “continue until the job is done.”
“We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil,” he said in a video statement last week.
Defense Minister Israel Katz also recently declared: “We will hunt down all of the Houthis’ leaders — nobody will be able to evade the long arm of Israel.”
The latest warnings from top Israeli officials came after a missile fired by the Houthis wounded 16 people in Israel’s main commercial city of Tel Aviv.
That attack prompted strikes by the United States against the rebels in Sanaa.
American and British forces have repeatedly struck rebel targets in Yemen this year in response to Houthi attacks on shipping in Red Sea-area waters vital to global trade.
In July, a Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting the first Israeli retaliation on Hodeida.
Ceasefire between Turkiye and US-backed SDF in northern Syria holding, Pentagon says
- Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants that it outlaws and who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon said on Monday a ceasefire between Turkiye and the US-backed Kurdish Syrian forces around the northern Syrian city of Manbij was holding.
Washington brokered an initial ceasefire earlier this month after fighting that broke out as rebel groups advanced on Damascus and overthrew the rule of Bashar Assad. But on Dec. 19, a Turkish defense ministry official said there was no talk of a ceasefire deal between Ankara and the SDF.
“The ceasefire is holding in that northern part of Syria,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.
The SDF is the main ally in a US coalition against Daesh militants in Syria. It is spearheaded by the YPG militia, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants that it outlaws and who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.
Turkiye regards the PKK, YPG and SDF as terrorist groups.
The US and Turkiye’s Western allies list the PKK as terrorist, but not the YPG and the SDF.
The United States has about 2,000 US troops in Syria that have been working with the SDF to fight Daesh militants and prevent a resurgence of the group, which in 2014 seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria but was later pushed back.
