Syrian Family Reunited, Against the Odds, in Greece

Abdul Salam Al Khawien, 37, right, and his wife Kariman, 32, left, pose with their children for a family photo, at their apartment in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Saturday, May 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
Abdul Salam Al Khawien, 37, right, and his wife Kariman, 32, left, pose with their children for a family photo, at their apartment in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Saturday, May 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
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Syrian Family Reunited, Against the Odds, in Greece

Abdul Salam Al Khawien, 37, right, and his wife Kariman, 32, left, pose with their children for a family photo, at their apartment in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Saturday, May 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
Abdul Salam Al Khawien, 37, right, and his wife Kariman, 32, left, pose with their children for a family photo, at their apartment in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Saturday, May 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Torn apart in the deadly chaos of an air raid, a Syrian family of seven has been reunited, against the odds, three years later at a refugee shelter in Greece's second city of Thessaloniki, a centuries-old melting point of cultures overlooking the Aegean Sea.

When the warplanes screamed in over the village of Dana, near Idlib in Syria, in September 2017, Abdul Salam Al Khawien was at home with his five children. His wife, Kariman, was out shopping in the marketplace. Bombs burst among the stalls, scattering corpses and knocking her unconscious.

She spent the next week recovering in a clinic, and by the time she was well enough to leave, Abdul had fled with the children to safety across the Turkish border, some 15 kilometers (9 miles) away.
Now in different countries, lacking mobile phones, internet or any other means of communicating or learning what had happened to each other, Kariman and Abdul each lost hope that the other had survived.

Until, one day last August, Kariman's brother discovered a social media account with a photograph of her eldest son, Hamza. It had been opened by Abdul, who had managed to reach Greece with the children — in his fifth attempt, having paid smugglers 5,000 euros ($6,000) for berths in a flimsy boat with more than 60 others — and had been granted asylum.

She immediately got in touch.

“I had a good feeling that day,” Abdul, a 37-year-old former car salesman from a village near Homs, told The Associated Press. “When I saw the message I nearly went mad with joy. I didn't tell the children, though. I thought it would be better for them to find out when she got here.”

Before, he said, whenever the children had asked about their mother, he told them she was in Syria and would rejoin them one day. “But they suspected she was dead," he said. "I had lost all hope.”
The 32-year-old mother still faced a daunting prospect: Making the dangerous — and illegal — journey from Syria to Turkey and then Greece, assisted by smuggling gangs.
“We didn't have any money (to pay them),” Kariman said, “and had to find some.”

She was able to raise the cash and entered Turkey with other Syrian refugees, finally reaching Istanbul. “From there, using smugglers, I tried to enter Greece by crossing the Evros River” that runs along the Greek-Turkish land border, she said.

But they were caught by Greek border guards and, according to Kariman, were sent back a day later to Turkey in the type of illegal action, known as a pushback, that Greece has repeatedly been accused of using against migrants slipping across the porous frontier. Greek authorities deny the practice.

Her second try, in November 2020, was successful. She found her way on foot, in the dark, to a Greek village.

“I went into a coffee shop and broke into tears,” she said. “They asked me where I was from, I said Syria, and they welcomed me. ... I sat on a balcony with a woman and drank coffee, and she made me understand, in sign language, that I was now safe.”

She was able to contact Filoxeneio, the facility set up by the Arsis NGO and the Thessaloniki municipality where Abdul and the children were living, and after registering with police the family was reunited.

Filoxeneio coordinator Manolis Zougos said he'd never encountered such a story during the 17 years he's been working with refugees.

“Up to the last minute we had thought her dead, which is what Abdul believed,” he said. “He had had a hard time. He was on his own and needed to perform multiple roles for his children.”

Even before the air raid on Dana, the family had struggled to escape violence in Syria's civil war.

“We changed locations 28 times, starting from our village near Homs in 2011,” Abdul said. “I had just built our house there, and it was destroyed. Whenever unrest came, we moved on. ... As soon as we heard a bombardment, we grabbed blankets, a tent and a generator, put them in the car and left.”

The couple tell their story with their children — Hamza, 10, Iman, 8, Layan, 7, Bayan, 5, and Safa, 3 1/2 — sitting around them. Kariman is pregnant again — “I would like a boy," Abdul said. But their travels may not yet be over.

Abdul says he wants to reach Germany, where his brother and sister live.

“Greece is a very safe country, but it is difficult to find work,” he said. “It's difficult for us.”



Netanyahu-Trump Meeting Reveals Unexpected Gaps on Key Issues

 President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he leaves the West Wing of the White House, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he leaves the West Wing of the White House, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
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Netanyahu-Trump Meeting Reveals Unexpected Gaps on Key Issues

 President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he leaves the West Wing of the White House, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he leaves the West Wing of the White House, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington this week for a hastily organized White House visit bringing a long list of concerns: Iran's nuclear program. President Donald Trump's tariffs. The surging influence of rival Türkiye in Syria. And the 18-month war in Gaza.

Netanyahu appeared to leave Monday's meeting largely empty-handed — a stark contrast with his triumphant visit two months ago. During an hourlong Oval Office appearance, Trump appeared to slap down, contradict or complicate each of Netanyahu's policy prerogatives.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu declared the meeting a success, calling it a “very good visit” and claiming successes on all fronts. But privately, the Israeli delegation felt it was a tough meeting, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Netanyahu “didn't hear exactly what he wanted to hear, so he returns back home with very little,” said Nadav Eyal, a commentator with the Yediot Ahronot daily, who added that the visit was still friendly, despite the disagreements.

Netanyahu's second pilgrimage to Washington under Trump's second term was organized at short notice and billed as an attempt to address the new US tariff regime. But it came at a pivotal time in Middle East geopolitics. Israel restarted the war in Gaza last month, ending a Trump-endorsed ceasefire, and tensions with Iran are rising over its nuclear program.

Netanyahu and his allies were thrilled with Trump's return to office given his strong support for Israel during his first term. This time around, Trump has not only nominated pro-Israel figures for key administration positions, he has abandoned the Biden administration's criticism of Israel's conduct in Gaza and the West Bank, and of Netanyahu's steps to weaken Israeli courts.

Monday's meeting showed that while Trump remains sympathetic to Israel, Netanyahu's relationship with the president during his second term is more complicated and unpredictable than he may have expected.

Here is a look at where Trump and Netanyahu appear to have diverged.

Netanyahu has long pushed for military pressure against Iran

With Netanyahu's strong encouragement, Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the United States from the agreement between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program. That deal, negotiated by the Obama administration, put curbs on Iran's nuclear program. It was denigrated by Netanyahu because he said it did not go far enough to contain Iran or address Iran's support for regional militant groups.

Netanyahu has long maintained that military pressure was the best way to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Israel struck Iran last year in the countries' first direct conflict ever. But it did not target Iran's nuclear facilities, something Israel would likely need US military assistance to do in order to strike targets buried deep underground.

Trump has suggested, including on Monday, that the US could take military action if Iran doesn't agree to negotiate. But his announcement Monday that talks would take place between the US and Iran this weekend flew in the face of Netanyahu's hawkish views.

Netanyahu gave a tepid endorsement, noting that both leaders agree that Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon. He said he would favor a diplomatic agreement similar to Libya's deal in 2003 to destroy its nuclear facilities and allow inspectors unfettered access. However, it is not clear if Trump will set such strict conditions.

Eyal said the announcement with Netanyahu by Trump's side was meant to show the transparency between the countries' leadership.

Netanyahu hoped for tariff relief and appeared to be rebuffed

A day before Trump's so-called Liberation Day unleashed global tariffs on the world last week, Israel preemptively announced that it would eliminate all levies on US goods. But that didn't spare Israeli products from being slapped with a 17% tariff by its largest trading partner.

Netanyahu was summoned to Washington ostensibly to make Israel's case against the levy. He was the first international leader to do so, in an encounter that may have set the stage for how other world leaders approach the tariffs.

While Trump repeatedly praised the Israeli leader, he did not appear to budge on Israel's share of the burden. Asked if he might change his mind, he said “maybe not.” He cited the billions of dollars the US gives Israel in military assistance each year — money that is seen as the bedrock of the US-Israel relationship and an insurance policy for US interests in the region.

“We give Israel $4 billion a year. That's a lot,” he said, as though to suggest Israel was already getting enough from the US, and congratulated Netanyahu on that achievement.

Netanyahu was told to be reasonable on Türkiye

Since the fall of the Assad dynasty in Syria late last year, Israel and Türkiye have been competing in the country over their separate interests there. Israel fears that Syria's new leadership will pose a new threat along its border. It has since taken over a buffer zone in Syrian territory and said it will remain there indefinitely until new security arrangements are made.

Türkiye has emerged as a key player in Syria, prompting concerns in Israel over the possibility of Türkiye expanding its military presence inside the country. Netanyahu said Tuesday that Turkish bases in Syria would be a “danger to Israel.”

Once strong regional partners, ties between Israel and Türkiye have long been frosty and deteriorated further over the war in Gaza. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been an outspoken critic of the war, prompting angry reactions from Israeli officials.

Netanyahu sought to hear support from his stalwart ally Trump on a country Israel perceives as increasingly hostile. Instead, Trump lavished praise on Erdogan for “taking over Syria,” positioned himself as a possible mediator between the countries and urged Netanyahu to be “reasonable” in his dealings with the country.

“Israel is not provided with a blank check here,” said Udi Sommer, an expert on US-Israel relations at Tel Aviv University. “There's no unconditional love here. It is contingent. It is contingent on Israel behaving a certain way.”

Trump wants the war in Gaza to end

While both addressed the ongoing war in Gaza and the Israeli hostages who remain held there, the topic appeared to take a backseat to other issues.

Netanyahu spoke of the hostages' plight and an emerging deal to free them, as well as the need to end the “evil tyranny of Hamas.” Trump sympathized with the hostages and made another pitch for his plan to “own” Gaza and remove its Palestinian population, a once fringe idea in Israeli discourse that has now found acceptance among mainstream politicians, including Netanyahu.

However, there were signs of differences on the horizon.

Netanyahu broke the ceasefire last month and has been under major pressure from his governing allies to keep up the fighting until Hamas is crushed. He has appeared to be in no rush to end the war or bring home the remaining hostages.

Trump, however, made it clear that he'd like to see the hostages freed and for the war to end. “And I think the war will stop at some point that won't be in the too distant future,” he said.