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Nazih Osseiran profile image

Nazih Osseiran

Middle East Correspondent

Thomson Reuters Foundation

Nazih Osseiran is the Middle East Correspondent at the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

22 hours and 23 mins ago

On paper, Lebanon’s coastline is public and open to all. In practice, it’s a different story.

Activists say up to 80% of the country’s coast is occupied by private businesses that charge for entry, and the remaining 20% is often crowded and full of pollution.

September 28, 2023

Over a month ago, Asmahan Balauon, a member of Libya's eastern-based parliament, requested that it should establish a climate change committee.

She was told a date would be set to discuss the issue - but her efforts were overtaken by the fatal floods that struck the city of Derna this month after heavy rains caused the collapse of two dilapidated dams, unleashing a torrent of destruction.

September 21, 2023

Despite its snow-covered peaks and abundance of rivers, Lebanon is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world.

How did this happen - and what happens if Lebanon runs out of water?

July 11, 2023

As the co-founder and CEO of a green tech company based in Morocco, Salma Bougarrani said she often finds herself the only woman in the room.

"This isn't very encouraging. You feel like you're an extraterrestrial," said Bougarrani, 34, whose GREEN WATECH company specialises in using energy efficient techniques to cleanse wastewater as worsening droughts deplete supplies.

May 10, 2023

When a bomb exploded in the heart of Istanbul last year, killing six and wounding more than 80 people, Selcuk Ada did what journalists usually do in a crises: he started tweeting.

"They started the election campaign," he tweeted, referring to the Turkish government blaming the attack on Kurdish militants. The PKK and YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied involvement.

May 03, 2023

Meals or meds? It is a painful choice that 26-year-old Rayan often faces as a Lebanese trans man who struggles to afford food on top of his hormone therapy.

The drugs usually win.

March 16, 2023

Houssam Azzam was 17 when the U.S. military took over his hometown of Fallujah in 2004 and detained him as part of a roundup of young men in western Iraq.

His photo, fingerprints, and iris scans were entered into a database, alongside a trove of information about him and his family, even though he said he was only ever involved in peaceful protests against the U.S. presence.

March 15, 2023

Mouayad Mohsen is appalled by the ways of the modern world, and the 58-year-old Iraqi soldier-turned-painter is on a mission to teach his neighbours some manners.

"No one says hello anymore, especially the youth," he said, enjoying a tea at a cafe near his home in Baghdad Gate, a walled-off complex in the heart of Iraq's capital.

March 13, 2023

As Iraq marks 20 years since the United States invaded, many young people want to build a brighter future after years of conflict and chaos.

Among them is Amina Sabbar, 26, an emergency ward doctor who began training in a public hospital in Sadr City, a Baghdad suburb of 3 million people.

March 13, 2023

As Iraq marks 20 years since the United States invaded, many young people want to build a brighter future after years of conflict and chaos.

Among them is Shana Shamal Mahmoud, 29, whose family fled due to threats of violence and returned in 2012, after U.S. troops withdrew.