Beyond the Headlines

The Middle East’s Captagon crisis

In April 2021, customs officers in the Saudi city of Jeddah searched a shipment of Lebanese pomegranates. Hidden inside the fruit were more than five million circular, beige Captagon pills – illegal amphetamines.

It was the latest in a long line of interceptions in recent years that have seen officers in the kingdom stop millions of pills and tonnes of drugs being smuggled in. 

But for Saudi Arabia, it was the final straw. The kingdom announced a ban on imported fruits and vegetables from Lebanon, dealing a huge blow to farmers already suffering from the country’s economic collapse and sending a shockwave through the region.

Over the last decade, Captagon has spread across the Middle East to become one of the most consumed narcotics. 

It gained particular infamy in the early years of the Syrian war as the drug of choice for militants like ISIS. Fighters took the pills on the battlefield as it fuelled them to fight for days without sleep or food.

In this week's Beyond the Headlines host James Haines Young introduces a major investigation by The National into the Middle East’s Captagon crisis.

Hosted by James Haines-Young
Produced by Arthur Scott-Geddes, Arthur Eddyson and Ayesha Khan

How Kabul fell to the Taliban

Afghanistan has seen war for decades, but none of them has involved so decisive a military takeover of the country as the latest. The speed with which the Taliban swept the country has shocked the world.

Why did the Afghan army collapse? Did president Ashraf Ghani have to flee? Is this a betrayal by the US administration? And what about the safety of Afghans, particularly women, under Taliban rule? These are some of the many questions people in the country are asking, but there are no easy answers.

This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Sulaiman Hakemy examines what happened in the crucial hours before Kabul fell to the Taliban, and what’s next for the country.

A new era for Iran

On August 5th, Iran inaugurated a new president putting an end to the 8-year presidency of reformist  Hassan Rouhani and ushered in a new, hard-line government.

The new president, Ebrahim Raisi is said to be handpicked by the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the man who controls Iran's religious ideology and political ideology. Mr Raisi is a hard-line cleric who won his election amid accusations of corruption and historically low voter turnout.

The new president had vowed in his campaign to continue the nuclear talks in Vienna, in an effort to get US sanctions removed and help relieve some of Iran’s economic pain. He also tempered his usually hard-line rhetoric around Iran’s domestic policy. But, now, a week since President Raisi was inaugurated, Iranians are already seeing a change.

This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Leila Gharagozlou talks to an expert on Iran’s political space and an Iranian reporter about the future of one of the world’s most closed off countries, Iran.

Ep 4. The Blast - Fallout

In the final episode, we follow the volunteers who took to the shattered streets of Beirut in the hours and days after the explosion of August 4, 2020. Host Finbar Anderson delves into the ongoing investigation into the blast and asks: will it ever bring justice to the city’s people?

Ep 3. The Blast - Zero Hour

In Episode 3 of The Blast, The National’s Finbar Anderson recounts the day of the explosion. As The fire in Warehouse 12 grows in intensity, a fire crew arrives to try to tackle the blaze, but it’s like nothing they’ve ever seen before. They call for backup.

Ghassan Hasrouty and his colleagues are still working in the silos next door, offloading grain from the ship that docked earlier in the day. They’re just metres from Warehouse 12, and the deadly stash of explosives inside it.

Bystanders living in the neighbourhood around the port come to their windows and onto their balconies. They watch the blaze as it grows and grows. Others are completely unaware of what’s happening down at the port. Like Sarah Copland, an Australian UN employee who’s feeding her 2-year-old son Isaac his supper next to the big glass windows of the family’s dining room in a quiet Beirut neighbourhood less than a kilometre away from the fire.

This is Zero Hour. It’s the story of what happens when a city blows up, told by the people who were there. This episode includes accounts that some listeners may find upsetting.

Ep 2. The Blast - The Six-Year Wait

In Episode 2 of The Blast, The National’s Finbar Anderson and Sunniva Rose head down to the docks of Beirut port. They try to piece together what was happening in the six years the ammonium nitrate sat in a warehouse and how it led to the huge explosion.

Ep 1. The Blast - The Russian and The Rhosus

On August 4, 2020 the heart of Beirut was ripped apart by a huge explosion caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate detonating at the city’s port.

The National’s Finbar Anderson was one of the thousands injured in the blast – hit by flying shards of glass in his own living room. In The Blast podcast he has traced the events of how that tragic day came to pass.

In Episode 1 Finbar speaks to Boris Prokoshev, the captain of the ship that first brought the ammonium nitrate into Beirut port. Boris tells us his story of how he, The Rhosus and its cargo made the journey to Beirut and why they all got stuck there.

The Blast from Beyond the Headlines

On August 4, 2020 the heart of Beirut was ripped apart by a huge explosion caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate detonating at the city’s port.
The National’s Finbar Anderson was one of the thousands injured in the blast – hit by flying shards of glass in his own living room.
In a four-part mini-series one year later, he has traced the events of how that tragic day came to pass.
Beginning with how the ammonium nitrate ended up in Lebanon, Finbar speaks to the officials who knew it sat at the port for six years and to the victims and their families, whose lives changed forever on that summer’s day.
And finally, we examine the fallout in the year since as people demand answers and await the official investigation.
Join us from August 2 to August 5 at TheNationalNews.com or on your favourite podcast app.
Subscribe to Beyond the Headlines to hear the full story.

Is France's anti-separatism law anti-Muslim?

An IT technician facing the sack for discussing voting habits at work or parents barred from home schooling their children.

 

It sounds pretty dystopian, but activists say a new French law may bring these restrictions into reality.

 

 

Supporters of the anti-separatism bill say it will reinforce France’s commitment to secularism. 

 

But those opposing it say the legislation erodes civil liberties, religious freedoms and unfairly targets the Muslim community. 

 

Last week the bill was passed into law.

 

On this week's Beyond the Headlines, host Taylor Heyman asks: who’s right?

Why some Saudis stop everything to volunteer at Hajj

Every year in Saudi Arabia, as the time of the pilgrimage to Makkah nears, thousands of people from the city and around the country gather to volunteer for Hajj. Often these people will give up their daily lives and work to take time out to help those who visit the holy sites. As Muslims flock to the city to complete one of the essential requirements of their faith, a taskforce of thousands of Saudis is deployed to see to their needs. 

On this week’s Beyond the Headlines, host Ayesha Khan looks at the Saudis who put their lives on hold to volunteer at Hajj.