- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
- Hong Kong stocks resume rally, oil dips after Middle East-fuelled surge
- Crude stable after Israel-Iran surge, Hong Kong stocks resume gains
- Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defence test
- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
- Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon to land
- Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
- Biden official urges talks as US port strike enters second day
- Huge protests in Argentina over public university cuts
- Rally in oil prices loses steam on mixed day for global stocks
- South America treated to rare 'ring of fire' eclipse
- Biden official says port strike deal not as far as parties think
- Mexico's new president offers apology for 1968 student massacre
- Historic funding round values OpenAI at $157 billion
- Mixed US car sales in Q3 as industry hopes for post-election bounce
- Thunderstorms are a 'boiling pot' of gamma rays, scientists find
CMSC | -0.16% | 24.74 | $ | |
RBGPF | 100% | 58.93 | $ | |
SCS | -1.98% | 12.62 | $ | |
AZN | -2.12% | 77.93 | $ | |
NGG | -2.7% | 66.97 | $ | |
GSK | -2.81% | 38.37 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.16% | 24.89 | $ | |
RELX | -1.46% | 46.61 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.15% | 6.98 | $ | |
RIO | -1.42% | 69.83 | $ | |
BTI | -2.45% | 35.11 | $ | |
BCC | -0.9% | 138.29 | $ | |
BCE | -1.77% | 33.84 | $ | |
JRI | -0.6% | 13.3 | $ | |
BP | 0.28% | 32.46 | $ | |
VOD | -0.52% | 9.69 | $ |
Syria's last traditional boat-makers keep ancient craft afloat
Khaled Bahlawan hammers nails into a traditional wooden boat he built by hand, toiling under the scorching sun on Syria's Mediterranean coast to preserve a disappearing ancient skill.
"We are the last family that makes wooden ships and boats in Syria," said the 39-year-old on the shores of Arwad island, near the city of Tartus.
"This is the legacy of our ancestors... We are fighting to preserve it every day".
Located about three kilometres (less than two miles) off the coast, Arwad is Syria's only inhabited island and a haven of peace in a country torn by 11 years of war.
Hundreds of workers, residents and visitors commute to and from there every day in wooden boats, mostly built by the Bahlawan family.
But demand for a craft that dates back to ancient Phoenician times has dropped to all but a trickle.
The eight members of the Bahlawan family now share the work, making boats for fishermen, resorts and passenger transport.
The tradition of building and repairing wooden boats has been in their family for hundreds of years.
Long power cuts due to years of conflict mean that Bahlawan cannot use his electrical equipment.
Instead he works with his grandfather's manual tools, smoothing the wood by hand rather than with an electric plane.
"It's a hard task," he said, standing inside the hull of a boat and tapping each nail carefully.
He heads to his narrow, open-air workshop near the beach every day, despite the low demand and modest means.
"We are doing our best to overcome difficulties," said Bahlawan, his face covered in sweat and sporadic wood shavings.
- 'Historic responsibility' -
Boat-building has been a village tradition since Phoenician times, said Noureddine Suleiman, who heads the Arwad municipality.
In the past, the majority of Arwad's residents were boat-makers, he said.
"Today, only the Bahlawan family remains," he said.
Thousands of years ago the Phoenicians, renowned for their ship and boat-making, laid the foundations of marine navigation.
The skilled sailors and traders roamed the seas, bringing their knowledge, craftsmanship and their alphabet to other parts of the Mediterranean.
But traditional boat-making now risks disappearing altogether, Suleiman warned, as young people emigrate or search for easier, more profitable work.
Farouk Bahlawan, Khaled's uncle, said his family had preserved the original shape and structure of ancient Phoenician boats, with a few modifications.
"We mainly make ships from eucalyptus and mulberry wood from the Tartus forests," said the 54-year-old, a skilled carpenter.
Young children played hide-and-seek in the boats' hulls at the workshop, while an elderly man smoked in the shade of a large ship.
Close by, more than 40 wooden boats were moored at the Arwad port.
"We used to manufacture four big ships and several boats every year that we would export to Cyprus, Turkey and Lebanon," Farouk Bahlawan said.
"This year, we only worked on one ship, and it still needs a lot of work before it is done."
He gazed at the beach, where the children ran in the sand.
"We must continue this journey," he said, his voice welling up with emotion. "We bear a historic responsibility on our shoulders."
M.Mendoza--CPN