EL PAÍS

Photo essay: Iran’s slow return to life

Patricia Simón, Ricardo García Vilanova — Sun, 17 Aug 2025 04:15:33 +0000

After the bombs and with the initial shock now subsiding, Iran is trying to return to normal life while still burying victims of the conflict with the United States and Israel. “If it were legitimate to assassinate nuclear scientists, they would have killed Oppenheimer. People here were just working; we have nothing to do with the war. Why are they attacking us?” cries Shirin, standing among the rubble of one of more than 400 buildings destroyed in Tehran during what is now called the 12-Day War. This housewife lived in an apartment blown open by the bombing.

Seguir leyendo

Raqqa, former Islamic State stronghold, faces regime change in Syria under shadow of Turkey

Ricardo García Vilanova — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 16:29:12 +0000

The entrance to Raqqa is eerie. The skeletons of buildings destroyed during the war against the jihadist group Islamic State (ISIS), mixed with new structures still to be completed, can be seen in the dim moonlight that marks their silhouettes. It looks like a scene from a horror film. On the first main street of this Syrian city, in territory controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, a Kurdish-Arab militia), several vans have parked, guarded by men in balaclavas and without uniforms. They raise their weapons when they see the only car passing through during the curfew, which begins at sunset and ends at dawn. “Who are you?” they ask angrily. The translator replies: “They are foreign journalists; they’re trying to get to the hotel,” and the masked men allow the group to continue on their way. Tensions are high throughout the city as citizens fear a large-scale incursion by Turkey, the sworn enemy of the Kurdish militias in the region.

Seguir leyendo

Hope and uncertainty among northern Syrians: ‘We are exhausted, but happy’

Ricardo García Vilanova — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 08:19:48 +0000

“There will be a coup, a transitional government with representation for all groups, and everything will happen without a bloodbath,” said Shivan, a Syrian resident in the north of the country who withheld his real name for security reasons, just a few days ago. If he had been anyone else, his words could have been taken with a grain of salt, but coming from an individual who has lived through the revolution, the atrocious repression of the Bashar al-Assad regime, and the ruthless civil war that was fueled by both Assad and international interference, there was a good chance that his predictions would come true.

Seguir leyendo