Gulfsands ends payments to Assad’s cousin – but continues supporting Syrian regime with $8 million every week
Blog post -
Aug 24, 2011
Documents revealed by the FT amid concerns raised by Avaaz show that Gulfsands Petroleum, the London-listed oil and gas company, agreed to give a share of profits from its production activities in Syria to a company controlled by Rami Makhlouf, the first cousin of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The company has also paid more than...
Is Syrian propaganda tool and oil company Gulfsands dodging EU sanctions?
Blog post -
Aug 9, 2011
Propaganda tool? London-based Gulfsands Petroleum is operating as a propaganda tool for the Assad regime. In an interview from last Wednesday, the company’s communications director Ken Judge made statements that claimed Islamic extremists had infiltrated protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s 11-year rule. Yet the Syrian uprising is evidently supported by a broad swathe of the...
Shell supports Syrian regime with $55 million during crackdown; one out of six Syrian tanks runs on Shell oil
Blog post -
May 29, 2011
Today, a Shell-chartered tanker is scheduled to dock in the Syrian port of Tartous. The Heidmar TBN will collect almost 600,000 barrels of crude oil purchased by Shell. The shipment, worth over $55 million, has been marketed to Shell by state company Sytrol, an integral part of Assad’s regime of power. Repression of the democratic uprising in Syria...
Rain & Eid in Yarmouk
Blog post -
Sep 20, 2009
Today was the first day of the Eid holiday (Eid As-Seghir or Eid Al-Fitr) bringing an end to a month of righteousness. By noon the streets of Yarmouk were witnessing epic gun battles between rival gangs from different sides of the refugee camp. Sharp-shooters hid behind every car and doorway, trying to get a clear...
Living in Palestinian Yarmouk
Blog post -
Sep 13, 2009
We moved to Yarmouk Camp the other week. The first month in Damascus, I lived in an ancient house in the middle of the Old City in Damascus, half a block from the enormous Omayed Mosque. Sitting on our roof terrace at dusk, I blogged while watching the bats swoop and dive around the Bride’s...
Travelling: London-Syria
Blog post -
Jul 23, 2009
Travelling by train across Europe & Turkey was a beautiful and exciting way to get to Syria. Without the teleport effect of airplanes, mountain ranges are more than bumps on a flat surface and the Danube remains a mighty river rather than just yet another waterway. How did I get to Syria: Thursday 16 July...
