Hassan Youssef was 10 years old when a local Syrian composer discovered his talent: a deep powerful voice that was particularly resonant for traditional songs.
In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee children rehearse before their graduation concert in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
It wasn't long, however, before Syria's grinding civil war nearly shattered Youssef's hope of polishing his natural gift. He and his family left their home in a suburb of Damascus and traveled to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley to become one of the millions of Syrians living in refugee camps around the region.
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In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee children rehearse before their graduation concert in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee Maha Alsheik Fattouh, 14, from Homs rehearses before the graduation concert in Beirut, Lebanon.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee children rehearse before their graduation concert in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee Maha Alsheik Fattouh, right, from Homs listens to her teacher Mustafa Said, second left, as they rehearse before the graduation concert in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee children listen to their teacher as they rehearse before their graduation concert in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
When the Action for Hope Music School announced it was seeking talented children among the refugee community in Lebanon to train, Youssef's family were the first to encourage him to enroll. A year and half later, the now 14-year-old Youssef is one of two dozen children who graduated from the program, which was capped by a busy and lively concert in a central Beirut theater Friday.
In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee Maha Alsheik Fattouh, 14, from Homs rehearses before the graduation concert in Beirut, Lebanon.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Youssef, a lead singer in the concert, had come a long way from the early days of the war when a mortar round fell near his family's home.
"We only heard the sound of a mortar, it fell near us," said Youssef, whose shy manner contradicts a deep and impressive performance of traditional Syrian songs. "When we looked it had apparently brought down a whole building. That is all I remember."
Music, he says, "makes one forget everything. Music is the most important thing."
Youssef is one of nearly 3 million children who have been displaced by the war. In Lebanon, there are more than 1 million registered refugees, nearly half of them children. Some observers believe many more are not registered.
In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee children rehearse before their graduation concert in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The UNESCO-funded Action for Hope program Youssef attended has trained 24 of those displaced children for over a year and a half. It also aims to preserve the musical heritage of Syria and the region, offering classes in theory and the history of Arabic music, and teaching students the oud or Buzuq, two-string instruments used in classical Arabic and Turkish music, as well as traditional songs from different parts of Syria and the region.
The crowd at the graduation concert, many of them proud family members, cheered enthusiastically as the children played a repertoire of over a dozen songs from Syria, Egypt and Turkey. The crowd sang along and clapped to their performance of "muwashahat" from Aleppo, a form of poetic ballad for which the Syrian city is famous. The band also performed famous old Egyptian songs, stumbling some as they pronounced the Egyptian dialect.
In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee Maha Alsheik Fattouh, right, from Homs listens to her teacher Mustafa Said, second left, as they rehearse before the graduation concert in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The spirit during the more than 60-minute performance was elated, and Youssef drew a long cheer after performing an old deep-voiced song.
Youssef said he is now planning with colleagues to form a new band to play commercially whenever they can.
Director of Action for Hope, Basma el-Husseiny, said the music school offers children traumatized by the war and displacement an avenue to express themselves and overcome the sense of being a victim. The organization also has a video and theater program.
In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee children listen to their teacher as they rehearse before their graduation concert in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
"Art gives strength. It emanates from the ability to create and at the same time to appreciate creativity," el-Husseiny said. "This strength is needed by people who are marginalized, deprived and undergoing difficult circumstances much more than the rich."
Fawaz Baker, a Syrian music adviser for the project and the former head of a music academy in Aleppo, said he picked 24 children from a total of 200 students who applied. He chose to train them in a diverse set of songs from Turkey, Egypt and Syria's region.
"We tried to diversify, so that the children can choose in the future," he said.
Action for Hope is now taking its program to Jordan, where 20 new Syrian students have also enrolled to learn music.
Israeli forces have recovered the body of a hostage held in Gaza, the military said Wednesday, adding that it was identifying additional remains that could belong to another captive. The recovery of Yosef AlZayadni, 53, from an underground tunnel comes as Israel and Hamas are considering a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. A third of the 100 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be dead.
Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday killed at least five people in the Gaza Strip, including two infants and a woman, Palestinian medics said Wednesday. Israel’s military says it only targets militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians.
Israel’s air and ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza has killed over 45,800 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says women and children make up over half the fatalities. The military says it killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
And in Yemen, the U.S. military says it carried out a wave of strikes against underground arms facilities of the Houthi rebels. The Iran-backed Houthis have targeted shipping for more than a year and recently ramped up missile attacks on Israel, saying they seek to force an end to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
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The body of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza, 53-year-old Yosef AlZayadni, was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, the military said Wednesday. It said it was examining whether a second body was that of another hostage.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier a second hostage's body had been recovered: AlZayadni’s son Hamzah.
The men were taken captive during Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The return of the body comes as Israel and Hamas are considering a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Israel believes a third of the remaining 100 hostages are dead. However, AlZayadni was believed to still be alive before Wednesday’s announcement.
AlZayadni, who had 19 children, had worked at a dairy in southern Israel’s Kibbutz Holit for 17 years, said the Hostages Family Forum, a group representing the families of captives. AlZayadni was kidnapped with three of his children. His teenage kids, Bilal and Aisha, were released in a weeklong ceasefire deal in November.
The family are members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel’s Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship.
TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli group representing some families of hostages held in Gaza displayed an image of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on a huge electronic billboard in Tel Aviv with a reference to his threat to unleash “hell” if the captives aren't freed before he takes office later this month.
The group behind the billboard, Tikva Forum, has called for Israel to use increased force against Hamas to secure the release of their loved ones.
The billboard shows a photo of Trump raising his fist moments after his assassination attempt, and threatens in English “the fire of hell will open” if the hostages aren't released.
Many in Israel have been energized by Trump's warning, hoping it could exert more pressure on Israeli and Hamas leaders to reach a deal to free hostages in exchange for a ceasefire in Gaza.
A third of the 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza are believed to be dead.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa received a delegation from Bahrain on Wednesday and met with the Bahraini foreign minister, state media reported.
The visit was the latest in a flurry of diplomatic overtures by Arab countries to Syria’s new leaders after they overthrew former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive.
Like other Gulf countries, Bahrain had cut off diplomatic ties with Syria under Assad’s rule during the Syrian civil war, but it reopened its embassy in Damascus in 2018 and gradually restored ties with the Assad government.
Bahrain is the current head of the Arab summit, and days after Assad’s ouster it had sent a message to al-Sharaa offering its cooperation with the new authorities and saying, “We look forward to Syria regaining its authentic role in the Arab League.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. military says it carried out a wave of strikes against what it said were underground arms facilities of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that Wednesday’s strikes targeted weapons used by the rebels to attack ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis said seven strikes targeted sites in the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, and the northern Amran province, without providing further details. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The United States and its allies have carried out repeated strikes on the Houthis, who have continued to target shipping.
The rebels say they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed at least five people in the Gaza Strip, including two infants and a woman, Palestinian medics said Wednesday.
One strike hit a home in the central city of Deir al-Balah, killing two men and a woman, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the casualties. It also received a 4-month-old boy who was killed in a strike on his family house in the nearby built-up Bureij refugee camp.
An Associated Press journalist saw the four bodies in the hospital morgue.
In Gaza City, an airstrike hit a home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing a 3-week-old baby, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency service.
Israel’s military says it only targets militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. A third of the 100 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be dead.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says women and children make up over half the fatalities. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel has destroyed vast areas of the impoverished territory and displaced some 90% of its population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
An electronic billboard beams an image of President-elect Donald Trump and references his threat to unleash hell if hostages held in Gaza are not freed until his inauguration later this month. in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold photos of their loved ones during a protest calling for their return, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Destroyed buildings stand inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners carry the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, during their funeral at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians react next to the bodies of their relatives who were killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian looks at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian looks at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians look at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians look at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A supporter of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza holds a photos of a hostage after a protest calling for their return, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Palestinians react next to the bodies of their relatives who were killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners transport the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, during their funeral in Deir al-Balah, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians carry the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian looks at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Gazelles graze on a field in southern Israel on the border with Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Destroyed buildings stand inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli military vehicles move inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
