Robert Bociaga

2 days ago | arabnews.com | Robert Bociaga

JEDDAH: A dry wind carries the first sign: a curl of frankincense smoke, sharp and sweet, drifting over the desert flats. It seeps through windows, clings to clothes, lingers on skin. Najran once sat at the center of the incense trade, and the scent still clings to its streets like a memory too deep to wash away. In Najran’s Old City, sun-drenched alleys wind between mud-brick towers etched with delicate patterns.

2 weeks ago | newarab.com | Robert Bociaga

Damascus, Syria - The world watched with a mixture of disbelief and caution as US President Donald Trump stood beside Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, in Riyadh on 13 May and announced the lifting of all US sanctions on Syria. It was the kind of geopolitical move that could only happen in a transactional world order, where former enemies are rebranded as partners and pariah states are brought back into the fold, not for democratic reform, but for calculated strategic returns.

1 month ago | arabnews.com | Robert Bociaga

DAMMAM: Near Hofuf, at the edge of Al-Ahsa Oasis, where the palms thin out and the desert hushes before turning to stone, Jabal Al-Qarah rises. Low and wide, its sculpted sandstone flanks have been worn into curves and fissures.   I first saw the mountain just after dawn as the road, having coiled gently through date groves and irrigation canals, veers toward the open plain. In the distance, the mountain appeared — not dramatically, but deliberately.

1 month ago | arab.news | Robert Bociaga |Shyama Krishna Kumar |Afshan Aziz |Denise Marray

Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Annie Mac back Kneecap amid political backlash over pro-Palestine message /node/2599132/lifestyle May 01, 2025 12:30 Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Annie Mac back Kneecap amid political backlash over pro-Palestine message DUBAI: English singer Paul Weller, Scottish rock band Primal Scream and Irish host and DJ Annie Mac voiced their support this week for Irish rap group Kneecap, who recently came under fire for displaying a “Free Palestine” message during their...

1 month ago | arabnews.pk | Robert Bociaga

DAMASCUS: In a city battered by years of conflict, a quiet revolution was unfolding earlier this month inside an unfinished concrete shell.   “The Path,” a two-week exhibition curated by the Madad Art Foundation and staged in the once-abandoned skeletal Massar Rose Building in Damascus, confronted Syria’s pain, but, curator Marwan Tayara stressed: “This is not about politics.