Sports Academy in Egypt Gives Syrian Children Hope

Syrian refugee Amir al-Awad (white), the co-founder of the Syrian Sports Academy, watches as students train at the academy in Alexandria, Egypt. (Getty Images)
Syrian refugee Amir al-Awad (white), the co-founder of the Syrian Sports Academy, watches as students train at the academy in Alexandria, Egypt. (Getty Images)
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Sports Academy in Egypt Gives Syrian Children Hope

Syrian refugee Amir al-Awad (white), the co-founder of the Syrian Sports Academy, watches as students train at the academy in Alexandria, Egypt. (Getty Images)
Syrian refugee Amir al-Awad (white), the co-founder of the Syrian Sports Academy, watches as students train at the academy in Alexandria, Egypt. (Getty Images)

When Amir al-Awad fled Syria for Egypt, he intended to cross the Mediterranean for a European country.

But instead, the boyhood Syrian wrestling champion opted against the risky sea journey and found work at a restaurant in Alexandria, where he was introduced to the city's Syrian community, reported Agence France-Presse on Tuesday.

Together they established the Syrian Sports Academy, and he replaced his dream of an Olympic medal with a goal to "create champions from the young refugees" from his country, says Awad.

This was "so that one day they will be able to raise their flag as we have in the past after they return to Syria," says the 34-year-old.

The academy is squeezed into just 30 square meters (320 square feet), in a modestly equipped hall at the bottom of a residential building in the Alexandria neighborhood of Khaled bin al-Waleed.

Inside, Syrian children aged of seven to 10 dressed in T-shirts and jeans form a line after arriving at the end of a school day.

"Let's go, guys, so you have enough time to study," Awad yells in encouragement, as he moves on to coaching them wrestling.

With a small administrative office, and the lone training hall, Syrian youngsters practice martial arts, aerobics, ballet, and gymnastics.

In addition, the academy organizes football tournaments, especially for Arab and African refugees in the city.

On its aging walls hang pictures of international martial arts and weightlifting champions.

The academy's founders began the project in 2016 with just 3,000 Egyptian pounds (about $430 at the time), said AFP.

The financing came from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which provided 25 percent used to buy equipment, and the rest from the Caritas humanitarian group.

"We prepared the training hall step by step, including paint and design," says Awad.

The academy's growing reputation in the neighborhood drove Egyptian parents to also enroll their children there.

"We're keen to teach the children sports ethics: to learn how to win and how to lose, which helps them in their life, instead of giving in to a bad lifestyle," he says.

Karima Amer, an Egyptian mother from Khaled bin al-Waleed neighborhood, cited "discipline" as the reason she takes her son and daughter to the academy.

She praised "Captain Amir" and how he "talks with the children about everything: their problems, food, and ethics".

Adel Bazmawi, 21, a co-founder and coach, says he transitioned from a professional wrestling to coaching martial arts after coming to Egypt from Idlib in 2013.

"In Egypt I'm not recognized as a wrestler who can participate in international competitions" given he does not carry the Egyptian nationality, says Bazmawi, who was Syria's freestyle wrestling champion for his age in 2006 and 2008.

Now "the most I can do is to fight in local clubs," he says.

On the other hand, in addition to Alexandria, he says he has become known in other cities, including the Nile Delta provincial capitals of Tanta and Kafr el-Sheikh.

Still, he says "I miss international competitions".

Even after receiving invitations to tournaments in Canada and Germany in 2015, he was unable to go because "Syrian nationality has become an obstacle to obtaining visas to European countries."

There are more than 126,000 UN-registered Syrian refugees in Egypt, but the real figure is thought to be much higher.

Bazmawi, who did not complete his studies in sports education because of the devastating seven-year war in his homeland, helps his family to prepare Syrian shawarma at a restaurant close to the academy.

Those who train the youths go unpaid, something that is unavoidable given that 75 percent of the children are exempt from fees.

"The academy's goal is to be developmental, and not to make a profit," says Awad.

But older youths pay a "token" fee, up to 100 pounds a month, which the academy uses to pay electricity bills and rent, he says.

As busy as they are, Awad says his team "aren't able to compete in various tournaments because of their Syrian nationality," while to participate they need to officially register the academy.

On several occasions, they even had to cancel some activities on police orders, and they lack the licenses for gatherings, he says.

But for Karim Jalal al-Deen, 10, the academy is a place to nurture his dream of going back to Syria one day after perfecting kickboxing.

"I want to go back to Syria as a champion, and beat Captain Adel, and I might even be a kickboxing coach myself."



Iran-Israel War: A Lifeline for Netanyahu?

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
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Iran-Israel War: A Lifeline for Netanyahu?

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

The Iran-Israel war has helped strengthen Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu domestically and overseas, just as his grip on power looked vulnerable.

On the eve of launching strikes on Iran, his government looked to be on the verge of collapse, with a drive to conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews threatening to scupper his fragile coalition.

Nearly two years on from Hamas's unprecedented attack in 2023, Netanyahu was under growing domestic criticism for his handling of the war in Gaza, where dozens of hostages remain unaccounted for, said AFP.

Internationally too, he was coming under pressure including from longstanding allies, who since the war with Iran began have gone back to expressing support.

Just days ago, polls were predicting Netanyahu would lose his majority if new elections were held, but now, his fortunes appear to have reversed, and Israelis are seeing in "Bibi" the man of the moment.

– 'Reshape the Middle East' –

For decades, Netanyahu has warned of the risk of a nuclear attack on Israel by Iran -- a fear shared by most Israelis.

Yonatan Freeman, a geopolitics expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Netanyahu's argument that the pre-emptive strike on Iran was necessary draws "a lot of public support" and that the prime minister has been "greatly strengthened".

Even the opposition has rallied behind him.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is my political rival, but his decision to strike Iran at this moment in time is the right one," opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote in a Jerusalem Post op-ed.

A poll published Saturday by a conservative Israeli channel showed that 54 percent of respondents expressed confidence in the prime minister.

The public had had time to prepare for the possibility of an offensive against Iran, with Netanyahu repeatedly warning that Israel was fighting for its survival and had an opportunity to "reshape the Middle East."

During tit-for-tat military exchanges last year, Israel launched air raids on targets in Iran in October that are thought to have severely damaged Iranian air defenses.

Israel's then-defense minister Yoav Gallant said the strikes had shifted "the balance of power" and had "weakened" Iran.

"In fact, for the past 20 months, Israelis have been thinking about this (a war with Iran)," said Denis Charbit, a political scientist at Israel's Open University.

Since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Netanyahu has ordered military action in Gaza, against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, as well as targets in Syria where long-time leader Bashar al-Assad fell in December last year.

"Netanyahu always wants to dominate the agenda, to be the one who reshuffles the deck himself -- not the one who reacts -- and here he is clearly asserting his Churchillian side, which is, incidentally, his model," Charbit said.

"But depending on the outcome and the duration (of the war), everything could change, and Israelis might turn against Bibi and demand answers."

– Silencing critics –

For now, however, people in Israel see the conflict with Iran as a "necessary war," according to Nitzan Perelman, a researcher specialized in Israel at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France.

"Public opinion supports this war, just as it has supported previous ones," she added.

"It's very useful for Netanyahu because it silences criticism, both inside the country and abroad."

In the weeks ahead of the Iran strikes, international criticism of Netanyahu and Israel's military had reached unprecedented levels.

After more than 55,000 deaths in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, and a blockade that has produced famine-like conditions there, Israel has faced growing isolation and the risk of sanctions, while Netanyahu himself is the subject of an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes.

But on Sunday, two days into the war with Iran, the Israeli leader received a phone call from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, while Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has held talks with numerous counterparts.

"There's more consensus in Europe in how they see Iran, which is more equal to how Israel sees Iran," explained Freeman from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that Israel was doing "the dirty work... for all of us."

The idea that a weakened Iran could lead to regional peace and the emergence of a new Middle East is appealing to the United States and some European countries, according to Freeman.

But for Perelman, "Netanyahu is exploiting the Iranian threat, as he always has."