On December 17, 2010, Mohammed Bouazizi, a Tunisian fruit vendor, set himself on fire to protest against local officials having confiscated his stall. His act ignited the flames of a pan-Arab anti-establishment mass uprising that came to be called the ‘Arab Spring’. On the eve of the 14th anniversary of that incident and in the backdrop of last fortnight’s coup in Syria—the Arab Spring’s longest-running and bloodiest manifestation—an analysis of this rare phenomenon is called for. 

Tunisia To Egypt To Libya, The All-Encompassing Revolution

In the past 14 years, the Arab Spring has jolted several Arab countries, although its net impact remains contentious. Bouazizi’s self-immolation spurred mass demonstrations in Tunisia, toppling, within a month, the autocratic President in power for 23 years. Egypt followed shortly thereafter: the mass demonstrations centred on Cairo’s Tahrir Square forced President Mubarak to leave after 18 days despite having tried all sorts of deflections to stay in power. He was in power for 32 years and was replaced by the Supreme Military Council, which eventually gave way to the country’s first democratically held elections. The Muslim Brotherhood government lasted only a few months and was overthrown by the Army, which continues to wield power even now.

Col Muammar Qadhafi, President for 42 years of oil-rich Libya, also faced anti-government protests from mid-February 2011, which soon morphed into an armed insurrection based in the eastern coastal city of Benghazi. A UN Security Council Resolution authorising “all necessary measures” to protect civilians was weaponised by 27 Western and Middle Eastern powers to launch intensive airstrikes against the pro-Qadhafi forces. This tilted the balance against the government forces and eventually led to President Qadhafi being killed in combat on October 20. Even after massive bloodletting since, the civil war has continued and the country is still split, with a government each in Tripoli and Benghazi. Libya was the first case of foreign interests being strongly involved in influencing the outcome of the Arab Spring; it was not to be the last.

The protests in Bahrain that began in February 2011 were partly spurred by a Shia majority population chafing under a Sunni monarchy. These were initially aimed at achieving greater political freedom and respect for human rights, but the repression by authorities pushed them in that direction. The fellow monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council were alarmed by the perceived involvement of Iran and Hezbollah in disrupting the smallest Gulf state and intervened militarily to quell the protests. Saudi Arabia and the UAE sought to nip similar protests and reform movements in the bud with strongarm tactics.

Civil Wars In Syria And Yemen

Arab Spring protests in Syria and Yemen, two ethnically diverse and politically frozen republics under dynastic rules, unlocked long-suppressed popular sub-national aspirations. The confrontation did not remain peaceful for long, each morphing into a bitter civil war that brought in neighbouring and global powers resulting in counterproductive outcomes. In Syria, a country of 23 million, 13 years of civil war caused the deaths of nearly half a million people, displacement of nearly 15 million both internally and externally, and destruction put at half a trillion dollars. Yemen continued to be split into the al-Houthis-run north and the UN-recognised coalition in the south—both joined at the hip by disease and malnutrition.

Despite the complicated precedents, the second wave of Arab Spring unfurled 2018 onwards in Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq. While all of them had reforms as their leitmotif, the demands were more local and focused: in Algeria, “Herak” agitation was aimed at thwarting President Bouteflika, in power for 19 years, seeking a fresh term despite his physical incapacity. The Sudanese agitated against the 32 years of corrupt and violent rule of a military dictator. Iraqi and Lebanese youth wanted to bring down Muhasasa Taifiyeh, a system of sectarian power-sharing. While this wave of Arab Springers did partially achieve their immediate objectives, all of them are still mired in their respective crises.

Apart from these two waves, the Arab Spring touched almost all parts of the Arab World—from Western Sahara to Jordan and Kuwait.

A New Genre Of Dissent

It is important not to over-contextualise the Arab Spring. Even before 2011, the Arab world had similar protest movements, most prominent among these being the bread riots in Egypt and Algeria as well as the Palestinian Intefadah from the mid-1980s onwards. However, two decades later, the Arab Spring was a new dissent genre—being wild-fired by the spread of satellite television and social media leap-frogging over the state controls. Secondly, such protests also took place in other non-Arab but Islamic countries such as Iran (Hijab Protests), Pakistan (Imran Khan detention) and recently in Bangladesh (Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster), with mixed results. Even Israel, a regional exception, has had recurring mass protests against government attempts to curb judicial powers and to bring Israeli hostages home from Hamas captivity.

The foregone helps us to identify the root causes of the Arab Spring. Among them, the most widely felt reason could be a sense of ‘Hogra‘, a Maghrebi Arabic word roughly equivalent to the powerful’s contempt for a commoner; it could be expanded to envelope oppressive governance, personality cults and pretentious demagogy quite common in the Middle East. When coupled with stagnant, non-inclusive and non-representative polity, it manifests the Nasser-era paradigm of the ruled-adulating-the-benign-dictator that got increasingly out of place with the ethos of urbanised, better-educated and more aspirational modern Arab societies. The demographic reasons came next: the youth bulging to the working age found few worthwhile jobs within the country and faced shrinking opportunities for employment and migration abroad due to the global recession and low oil prices. These frustrations were aggravated by corruption and the skewed wealth distribution. Lastly, the average citizen was far younger than the long-ruling gerontocrats causing political disconnect and alienation. The boiling cauldron of public angst suddenly and conveniently cascaded into the Arab Spring. The top echelons’ recourse to police terror and/or palliatives was insufficient to contain the outpouring, and the shiny but brittle state cracked under pressure.

Why The Revolution Failed

It’s logical to ask why, despite initial success, the Arab Spring almost universally failed to reform the system. There are several reasons to be cited for this letdown.

Firstly, the Arab Spring movements were initially largely spontaneous without any leadership or agenda. Their initial aim was limited to a change at the top. Once that was achieved, they had little clue and unity on how to put in a better structure replacement as all of the Arab world governance models were flawed. Secondly, the long oppressive rule had meant that there was no credible “loyal opposition”—and the void was filled by either the Islamists (who often ran a mosque-based clandestine network) or the military.

Thirdly, foreign interventions often muddied the waters: they dithered between propping up the status quo or backing the democratic aspirations. The Western Powers, quite possessive about this eco-strategic region, also played their games, particularly in oil-rich countries.

Fourthly, the whirling anarchy often beckoned Islamic terrorism to hijack the agenda—as al-Qaeda and Islamic State did. Last, but not least, the national borders straddling ethnic and tribal groups also cross-pollinated the Arab Spring. The result was often a free-for-all, in which the most organised and committed side often won the day.

Whither The Arab World?

On the Arab Spring’s 14th anniversary, it is natural to ask if the Arab world is any better today and what its long-term impact is going to be. As of now, the most tangible takeaway from the Arab Spring is that a lasting socio-political transformation cannot be stillborn—it needs to evolve organically. One can also venture to suggest that the Arab Spring experience has no clear victors so far—at least the masses who are not only duped politically but also materially worse off. For instance, during the first decade of the Arab Spring to 2021, the nominal per capita income of an average Syrian declined by 86%, from $2971 to $421. So, although the al-Assad regime is finally gone 13 years after Arab Springers first demanded its ouster, the epic death and destruction make it a pyrrhic victory. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the succeeding Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)-led Salafi Sunni coalition would be an improvement.

All that one can safely say at this stage about the impact of the Arab Spring phenomenon is that it has shown a harsh mirror to the various stakeholders and made them aware of the limits of their respective powers. While one wishes that this awareness helps them to shift socio-political dynamics towards greater moderation and mutual accommodation, evidence on the ground suggests such hope may remain an ever-receding desert mirage.

(The author is a retired Indian Ambassador who learnt the Arabic language in Damascus. He currently heads Eco-Diplomacy and Strategies, a Delhi-based consultancy.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

It was around 8:30 or 9 in the evening on the last day of 1999. I was in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and was visiting a fellow Bihari friend, Tabish Khair – now an established novelist and poet – to celebrate the New Year festivities. While waiting for others to get ready, I switched on the TV to get an update on IC 814, an Indian Airlines plane hijacked eight days earlier with 155 passengers on board. The news was that the terrible saga had ended, and all passengers had been freed. But, of course, their freedom was secured in exchange for the release of three terrorists. 

Two of them released from jail were known in India – Maulana Masood Azhar (founder of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed) and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar (Al Umar Mujahideen). But except the police and intelligence agencies, only a few had heard of the third person: Omar Saeed Sheikh. Just two years later, Sheikh would become infamous worldwide for kidnapping and beheading a US journalist. He also nearly caused a diplomatic crisis between India and Pakistan following the November 26 terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008.

The Kidnapping Of 3 Westerners

The Netflix web series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack has sparked a controversy over names and the portrayal of a few of the hijackers. But it has taken me back to my chance encounter with Sheikh. 

The year was 1994. My cameraman and I were out to cover a story for a Delhi-based TV channel; it was going through dry runs before the launch. We had barely reached Ghaziabad when we witnessed elaborate security arrangements outside a private hospital. The road was cordoned off. We were told that a terrorist was admitted to the hospital after being wounded in a police encounter in Saharanpur the previous night, during which a police inspector had been shot dead.

Security was tighter inside the hospital. But some smooth-talking with an amiable Uttar Pradesh ‘daroga ji‘ did the trick. He allowed us in on the condition that we would brief him on our conversation with the man inside, Omar Sheikh, whose English accent, he admitted, he did not understand. We rolled the camera as we entered the room, not knowing who Sheikh was and how big a catch he was for the police. The only piece of information we had was that the injured man had kidnapped three Britons and an American in Delhi and hid them in a house in Saharanpur on their way to Kashmir. He had told his captives that his name was Rohit Sharma, and that he was taking them to his quaint ancestral village in Kashmir. But when a Saharanpur police patrol party stumbled upon the captives, a shootout ensued. A police inspector was killed, and Sheikh got injured. All the captives though were freed.

Omar Sheikh, The London-Born, LSE-Educated Terrorist

The hospital was posh, Sheikh’s room big and clean. He lay in bed with a bandage around his right shoulder. The camera was rolling as we came face to face with a tall and bearded young man, propped up against hospital pillows, looking puzzled and befuddled. His first reaction was to shout a barrage of questions at us, “Who are you, why are you here, who has sent you?”. 

We asked for an interview, but he refused to speak to us in protest because he said he had no prior notice we were going to do an interview with him. He relented after I produced my press ID card. Before the interview began, he told us his name and that he was 20 years old. He was a student at the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE). He also said he was born in London and was raised both there and in Lahore. His Pakistani immigrant parents lived in London, where they ran a clothes business. 

During the half-hour interview, Sheikh Omar looked extremely worried. He told me he would give anything to return to life in Britain. He also kept pleading with me, “Brother, take me out of here, please.” During the interview, he revealed how at the age of 18, he had already done ‘jihad’ in Bosnia, fighting alongside and on behalf of Bosnian Muslims, who, he said, were being butchered by the Serbs. He was strikingly young and his accent was distinctly British. I thought he had the gift of the gab. I am not surprised he managed to lure foreign tourists and later, in 2002, used the same trick to lure American journalist Daniel Pearl into captivity.

Fooled by Extremists

He also recounted how he had been indoctrinated on the campus by an Islamist organisation that wanted to establish an Islamic society in Britain. He said he had been fooled by the hard-luck stories he had heard about the plight of Muslims and Kashmiris in India. 

Sheikh admitted that he was charged with kidnapping some foreign tourists to barter for Maulana Masood Azhar, who was then held in prison in India. He also admitted that he had been in Delhi for more than a month before the kidnapping and was struck by the religious freedom he saw. “I had been told that Muslims in India had no religious rights and Kashmiri Muslims were being subjected to torture and rape by the Hindu army,” he said.

I asked him, if released, would he go back and tell people in Britain that Indian Muslims were free to build mosques, say prayers, and work in government offices? He said he would. He appeared repentant, but clearly not enough.

Meeting Masood Azhar

Why Omar Sheikh chose the path of destruction was hard to say. He was exposed to Islamist extremism at a tender age. But that doesn’t fully explain the path he chose early in his life. He was privileged. He went to the private Forest School in London – the same school former cricketer Nasser Hussain studied in. But while Sheikh became a terrorist, Hussain went on to become the captain of the England cricket team. 

At LSE, Sheikh was known for his academic brilliance, especially in maths and economics. But he dropped out before completing his degree to join the ‘jihad’ in Bosnia. It is reported that he met a couple of Pakistani “fighters” there, who introduced him to Maulana Masood Azhar upon his return to Pakistan. He trained in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

After his release, it’s unclear where Sheikh went in Pakistan. According to some Pakistani papers, he lived in Lahore, where he married a local woman and had a child.

Until this time, Omar Sheikh was known mostly to Indian investigators and intelligence communities. His name cropped up at the time of his release in December 1999 from Tihar, but outside of India, he remained unknown. 

The Kidnapping Of Daniel Pearl

That changed after the kidnapping of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Suddenly, everyone wanted to know who Sheikh was. A foreign media outlet published my encounter with him, and I was inundated with requests for interviews by the Western media. 

Sheikh was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Pearl. He was given a death sentence, which was later turned into life imprisonment. According to a respected Pakistani journalist, who met a prison officer where Sheikh was lodged, Omar was shuttled regularly between Karachi and Hyderabad jails, spending a fortnight in each. The officer told the journalist that it was necessitated by the fact that he used his gift of the gab and often cast his spell on prison officials, who would then do him favours, like smuggling cellphones. 

When Sheikh Posed As Pranab Mukherjee

It is precisely this gift that once landed the authorities into hot water and led to a near diplomatic crisis between India and Pakistan. A year after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Karachi’s Dawn newspaper ran an investigative story claiming that Sheikh had called the Pakistani President at the time, Asif Zardari, claiming to be India’s then-foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee. It was reported that he used unparliamentary language on the call and threatened Zardari with dire consequences for the Mumbai attacks. The English daily claimed, “Omar Saeed Sheikh, a detained Pakistani militant, had made hoax calls to President Asif Ali Zardari and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in a bid to heighten Pakistan-India tensions after last year’s terrorist attacks on Mumbai, investigators have told Dawn.”

A diplomatic crisis was averted after the call was traced to his cell in Hyderabad jail. The cell was raided, and it was found that Sheikh used a British SIM card to make the threatening calls.

Despite Daniel Pearl’s wife, Mariane Pearl, writing a book, titled A Mighty Heart, and despite the book being made into a Hollywood film with the same title, the story of Omar Sheikh remains shrouded in mystery. In dozens of court appearances, he often appeared affable and charming, but not a lot of his terror connections have been confirmed.

Omar Sheikh Is Still A Mystery

Former dictator Pervez Musharraf called him a British spy in his autobiography. Omar himself boasted of his deep links to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in his off-the-cuff remarks to journalists during court hearings. He was known to have good relations with Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Maulana Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Toiba’s Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Some journalists, who investigated the roles terror outfits played in the  9/11 attacks, claimed he was an operative of Al-Qaeda.

Omar is being held in jail despite his release order by the Supreme Court in Pakistan. It is believed the country has kept him in prison after re-arresting him because of international pressure. But some also claim that he is better off in jail, lest he reveal too much.

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

It was around 8:30 or 9 in the evening on the last day of 1999. I was in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and was visiting a fellow Bihari friend, Tabish Khair – now an established novelist and poet – to celebrate the New Year festivities. While waiting for others to get ready, I switched on the TV to get an update on IC 814, an Indian Airlines plane hijacked eight days earlier with 155 passengers on board. The news was that the terrible saga had ended, and all passengers had been freed. But, of course, their freedom was secured in exchange for the release of three terrorists. 

Two of them released from jail were known in India – Maulana Masood Azhar (founder of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed) and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar (Al Umar Mujahideen). But except the police and intelligence agencies, only a few had heard of the third person: Omar Saeed Sheikh. Just two years later, Sheikh would become infamous worldwide for kidnapping and beheading a US journalist. He also nearly caused a diplomatic crisis between India and Pakistan following the November 26 terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008.

The Kidnapping Of 3 Westerners

The Netflix web series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack has sparked a controversy over names and the portrayal of a few of the hijackers. But it has taken me back to my chance encounter with Sheikh. 

The year was 1994. My cameraman and I were out to cover a story for a Delhi-based TV channel; it was going through dry runs before the launch. We had barely reached Ghaziabad when we witnessed elaborate security arrangements outside a private hospital. The road was cordoned off. We were told that a terrorist was admitted to the hospital after being wounded in a police encounter in Saharanpur the previous night, during which a police inspector had been shot dead.

Security was tighter inside the hospital. But some smooth-talking with an amiable Uttar Pradesh ‘daroga ji‘ did the trick. He allowed us in on the condition that we would brief him on our conversation with the man inside, Omar Sheikh, whose English accent, he admitted, he did not understand. We rolled the camera as we entered the room, not knowing who Sheikh was and how big a catch he was for the police. The only piece of information we had was that the injured man had kidnapped three Britons and an American in Delhi and hid them in a house in Saharanpur on their way to Kashmir. He had told his captives that his name was Rohit Sharma, and that he was taking them to his quaint ancestral village in Kashmir. But when a Saharanpur police patrol party stumbled upon the captives, a shootout ensued. A police inspector was killed, and Sheikh got injured. All the captives though were freed.

Omar Sheikh, The London-Born, LSE-Educated Terrorist

The hospital was posh, Sheikh’s room big and clean. He lay in bed with a bandage around his right shoulder. The camera was rolling as we came face to face with a tall and bearded young man, propped up against hospital pillows, looking puzzled and befuddled. His first reaction was to shout a barrage of questions at us, “Who are you, why are you here, who has sent you?”. 

We asked for an interview, but he refused to speak to us in protest because he said he had no prior notice we were going to do an interview with him. He relented after I produced my press ID card. Before the interview began, he told us his name and that he was 20 years old. He was a student at the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE). He also said he was born in London and was raised both there and in Lahore. His Pakistani immigrant parents lived in London, where they ran a clothes business. 

During the half-hour interview, Sheikh Omar looked extremely worried. He told me he would give anything to return to life in Britain. He also kept pleading with me, “Brother, take me out of here, please.” During the interview, he revealed how at the age of 18, he had already done ‘jihad’ in Bosnia, fighting alongside and on behalf of Bosnian Muslims, who, he said, were being butchered by the Serbs. He was strikingly young and his accent was distinctly British. I thought he had the gift of the gab. I am not surprised he managed to lure foreign tourists and later, in 2002, used the same trick to lure American journalist Daniel Pearl into captivity.

Fooled by Extremists

He also recounted how he had been indoctrinated on the campus by an Islamist organisation that wanted to establish an Islamic society in Britain. He said he had been fooled by the hard-luck stories he had heard about the plight of Muslims and Kashmiris in India. 

Sheikh admitted that he was charged with kidnapping some foreign tourists to barter for Maulana Masood Azhar, who was then held in prison in India. He also admitted that he had been in Delhi for more than a month before the kidnapping and was struck by the religious freedom he saw. “I had been told that Muslims in India had no religious rights and Kashmiri Muslims were being subjected to torture and rape by the Hindu army,” he said.

I asked him, if released, would he go back and tell people in Britain that Indian Muslims were free to build mosques, say prayers, and work in government offices? He said he would. He appeared repentant, but clearly not enough.

Meeting Masood Azhar

Why Omar Sheikh chose the path of destruction was hard to say. He was exposed to Islamist extremism at a tender age. But that doesn’t fully explain the path he chose early in his life. He was privileged. He went to the private Forest School in London – the same school former cricketer Nasser Hussain studied in. But while Sheikh became a terrorist, Hussain went on to become the captain of the England cricket team. 

At LSE, Sheikh was known for his academic brilliance, especially in maths and economics. But he dropped out before completing his degree to join the ‘jihad’ in Bosnia. It is reported that he met a couple of Pakistani “fighters” there, who introduced him to Maulana Masood Azhar upon his return to Pakistan. He trained in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

After his release, it’s unclear where Sheikh went in Pakistan. According to some Pakistani papers, he lived in Lahore, where he married a local woman and had a child.

Until this time, Omar Sheikh was known mostly to Indian investigators and intelligence communities. His name cropped up at the time of his release in December 1999 from Tihar, but outside of India, he remained unknown. 

The Kidnapping Of Daniel Pearl

That changed after the kidnapping of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Suddenly, everyone wanted to know who Sheikh was. A foreign media outlet published my encounter with him, and I was inundated with requests for interviews by the Western media. 

Sheikh was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Pearl. He was given a death sentence, which was later turned into life imprisonment. According to a respected Pakistani journalist, who met a prison officer where Sheikh was lodged, Omar was shuttled regularly between Karachi and Hyderabad jails, spending a fortnight in each. The officer told the journalist that it was necessitated by the fact that he used his gift of the gab and often cast his spell on prison officials, who would then do him favours, like smuggling cellphones. 

When Sheikh Posed As Pranab Mukherjee

It is precisely this gift that once landed the authorities into hot water and led to a near diplomatic crisis between India and Pakistan. A year after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Karachi’s Dawn newspaper ran an investigative story claiming that Sheikh had called the Pakistani President at the time, Asif Zardari, claiming to be India’s then-foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee. It was reported that he used unparliamentary language on the call and threatened Zardari with dire consequences for the Mumbai attacks. The English daily claimed, “Omar Saeed Sheikh, a detained Pakistani militant, had made hoax calls to President Asif Ali Zardari and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in a bid to heighten Pakistan-India tensions after last year’s terrorist attacks on Mumbai, investigators have told Dawn.”

A diplomatic crisis was averted after the call was traced to his cell in Hyderabad jail. The cell was raided, and it was found that Sheikh used a British SIM card to make the threatening calls.

Despite Daniel Pearl’s wife, Mariane Pearl, writing a book, titled A Mighty Heart, and despite the book being made into a Hollywood film with the same title, the story of Omar Sheikh remains shrouded in mystery. In dozens of court appearances, he often appeared affable and charming, but not a lot of his terror connections have been confirmed.

Omar Sheikh Is Still A Mystery

Former dictator Pervez Musharraf called him a British spy in his autobiography. Omar himself boasted of his deep links to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in his off-the-cuff remarks to journalists during court hearings. He was known to have good relations with Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Maulana Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Toiba’s Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Some journalists, who investigated the roles terror outfits played in the  9/11 attacks, claimed he was an operative of Al-Qaeda.

Omar is being held in jail despite his release order by the Supreme Court in Pakistan. It is believed the country has kept him in prison after re-arresting him because of international pressure. But some also claim that he is better off in jail, lest he reveal too much.

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Muslim pilgrims use umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun during the annual haj, in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on June 18, 2024. Muslim pilgrims were wrapping up the Haj pilgrimage in the deadly summer heat on Tuesday
| Photo Credit: AP

Diplomats on Tuesday said at least 550 pilgrims died during the haj, underscoring the gruelling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures this year.

At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries’ responses told AFP.

“All of them (the Egyptians) died because of heat” except for one who sustained fatal injuries during a minor crowd crush, one of the diplomats said, adding the total figure came from the hospital morgue in the Al-Muaisem neighbourhood of Mecca.

At least 60 Jordanians also died, the diplomats said, up from an official tally of 41 given earlier on Tuesday by Amman. The new deaths bring the total reported so far by multiple countries to 577, according to an AFP tally. The diplomats said the total at the morgue in Al-Muaisem, one of the biggest in Mecca, was 550.

The haj is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims with the means must complete it at least once.

The pilgrimage is increasingly affected by climate change, according to a Saudi study published last month that said temperatures in the area where rituals are performed were rising 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.72 degrees Fahrenheit) each decade.

Temperatures hit 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Monday, the Saudi national meteorology centre said.

Heat stress

Earlier on Tuesday, Egypt’s foreign ministry said Cairo was collaborating with Saudi authorities on search operations for Egyptians who had gone missing during the haj.

While a ministry statement said “a certain number of deaths” had occurred, it did not specify whether Egyptians were among them.

Saudi authorities have reported treating more than 2,000 pilgrims suffering from heat stress but have not updated that figure since Sunday and have not provided information on fatalities.

At least 240 pilgrims were reported dead by various countries last year, most of them Indonesians.

AFP journalists in Mina, outside Mecca, on Monday saw pilgrims pouring bottles of water over their heads as volunteers handed out cold drinks and fast-melting chocolate ice cream to help them keep cool.

Saudi officials had advised pilgrims to use umbrellas, drink plenty of water and avoid exposure to the sun during the hottest hours of the day.

But many of the haj rituals, including the prayers on Mount Arafat which took place on Saturday, involve being outdoors for hours in the daytime.

Some pilgrims described seeing motionless bodies on the roadside and ambulance services that appeared overwhelmed at times.

Around 1.8 million pilgrims took part in the haj this year, 1.6 million of them from abroad, according to Saudi authorities.

Unregistered pilgrims

Each year tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the haj through irregular channels as they cannot afford the often costly procedures for official haj visas.

This places these off-the-books pilgrims at risk as they cannot access air-conditioned facilities provided by Saudi authorities along the haj route.

One of the diplomats who spoke to AFP on Tuesday said that the Egyptian death toll was “absolutely” boosted by a large number of unregistered Egyptian pilgrims.

“Irregular pilgrims caused great chaos in the Egyptian pilgrims’ camps, causing the collapse of services,” said an Egyptian official supervising the country’s haj mission.

“The pilgrims went without food, water, or air conditioning for a long time.”

They died “from the heat because most people had no place” to take shelter.

Earlier this month, Saudi officials said they had cleared hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca ahead of the haj.

Other countries to report deaths during the haj this year include Indonesia, Iran and Senegal.

Most countries have not specified how many deaths were heat-related.

Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdul Rahman Al-Jalajel said on Tuesday that health plans for the haj had “been successfully carried out”, preventing major outbreaks of disease and other public health threats, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Health officials “provided virtual consultations to over 5,800 pilgrims, primarily for heat-related illnesses, enabling prompt intervention and mitigating the potential for a surge in cases,” SPA said.

New Delhi:

Israel, who has been waging a war against the terrorist organisation Hamas for six months, now needs to strengthen another front. Iran has said that it is prepared for war and will deliver a “slap” to Israel.

Iran’s remarks come after an Israel airstrike hit their consulate in Damascus, killing at least seven Iranians, including two generals. While Israel has repeatedly targeted Iran-linked assets in Syria over the past few months, this was the first time an attack struck an Iranian diplomatic building.

Israel has been on alert since then, canceling home leave for combat troops, calling up reserves, and bolstering air defenses. Its military scrambled navigational signals over Tel Aviv on Thursday to disrupt GPS-navigated drones or missiles that might be fired at the country.

Israel-Iran Shadow War: Origins

The roots of this shadow conflict trace back to the overthrow of Iran’s last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1979. Following the Islamic revolution, Iran’s leaders adopted an anti-Israel stance, aligning themselves with groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, brought about a new worldview that predominantly championed Islam. He called for a fight against “arrogant” world powers who oppress others – including Palestinians – to serve their interests.

The new government in Iran started referring to Israel as the “Little Satan” to the “Great Satan” that is the US.

Meanwhile, Israel perceives Iran’s nuclear ambitions as an existential threat and has allegedly conducted covert operations to thwart its atomic program.

The Battlegrounds

The clashes between Israel and Iran have not been limited to ideologies or proxy groups, with both countries often attacking the other. But both publicly deny carrying out the attacks, which is why the conflict has become known as a “shadow war” that has spread to several other countries in the region.

Lebanon serves as one of the battlegrounds in the shadow war between the two Middle Eastern nations, with Hezbollah emerging as a proxy for Iran’s interests in the region. Israeli incursions into Lebanon, coupled with Hezbollah’s rocket attacks into Israel, have perpetuated a cycle of violence along the border.

Syria’s civil war provided another theater for the conflict, as Iran bolstered its military presence to support President Bashar al-Assad and facilitate arms transfers to Hezbollah. In response, Israel has launched numerous airstrikes targeting Iranian assets in Syria, further escalating tensions.

Maritime incidents have also contributed to the hostility between the two adversaries, with attacks on commercial vessels suspected to be carried out by both Israel and Iran.

What Is Happening Now?

Suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in Damascus on Monday in a strike that killed an Iranian military commander and marked a major escalation in Israel’s war with its regional adversaries.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said that seven Iranian military advisers died in the strike, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force, which is an elite foreign espionage and paramilitary arm.

Iran has said it reserves the right “to take a decisive response” and will deliver a “slap” to Israel.

Why Is US On High Alert

Amid the escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict, US President Joe Biden dialled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and assured him of support.

“Our teams have been in regular and continuous contact since then. The United States fully supports the defense of Israel against threats from Iran,” a senior Biden administration official said.

But just hours after the Biden call became public, Iran issued a statement warning the US to stay out of the conflict.

In a written message to Washington, Iran “warned the US not to get dragged into Netanyahu’s trap,” Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, wrote on X, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The US should “step aside so that you don’t get hit.”

Is An All-Out War Between Israel And Iran A Possibility?

The specter of all-out war looms large, particularly concerning Iran’s nuclear program. Despite Iran’s claims of peaceful intent, Israeli officials remain sceptical, citing intelligence suggesting otherwise.

Israeli officials have repeatedly implied that if Iran were to reach the brink of weapons capability, they would attack its nuclear program using air power, as they did Iraq’s in 1981 and Syria’s in 2007.

An Indonesian TikToker has been sentenced to two years in prison after she posted a TikTok video where she said an Islamic phrase before eating pork, BBC reported. The verdict came after a resident reported Lina Lutfiawati, 33, for the video which gained millions of views on TikTok in March this year.

In the video, she was seen uttering a Muslim prayer that translates to “in the name of God”, before consuming pork skin. The clip was shot when she was traveling in Bali, and the influencer said that she tried pork out of curiosity. Many criticised her for “knowingly eating pork skin as a Muslim”, while conservative groups across the country issued rulings calling the video ”blasphemous”.

Notably, pork is forbidden under Islam, which is the dominant religion in Indonesia.

Ms Lutfiawati was found guilty of “spreading information aimed at inciting hatred against religious individuals and specific groups” at a court on Tuesday in the South Sumatra city of Palembang, according to the verdict. She has also been ordered to pay a fine of $16,245 (Rs 13,48,111). If she fails to pay the money, her jail term may be extended by three months.

Taken aback by the verdict, she told a local news station that she knew that she made a mistake, but ”did not expect such a severe punishment.”

Notably, Ms Lutfiawati loves Bollywood movies and has also adopted the Indian name Lina Mukherjee. The influencer, who has more than two million TikTok followers, also runs a business in India.

Her case is the latest in a series of high-profile blasphemy convictions in recent years. Last year, six people were arrested after a bar chain promoted free alcohol for patrons named Mohammed, as per an AFP report. 

Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said the blasphemy article in Indonesian law has been abused to target minority groups and dissenters.