An empty classroom is pictured at College des Freres Sacre-Coeur in Beirut, Lebanon, June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Sorbonne-educated Chryssoula Fayad spent nearly two decades teaching history and geography at Lebanon's elite French schools, ultimately heading departments.
Now she is a substitute teacher in Paris, part of an exodus from an education system on its knees.
Fayad left behind her home and life savings in August 2020, at 50 years old. Days earlier, the hospital where her husband worked and his clinic were damaged along with swathes of Beirut when chemicals exploded at the port - the final straw.
Corruption and political wrangling have cost the local currency more than 90% of its value in less than two years, propelling half the population into poverty and locking depositors like Fayad out of their bank accounts.
Despite her straitened circumstances, she has no regrets.
"I always say thank God that we had this chance to come here," she said. "Unfortunately I know I made the right decision when I see how things are in Lebanon now."
Lebanon's educational sector, prized throughout the Middle East as a regional leader, was once ranked tenth globally by the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report.
Now it is unclear how schools will manage when the new academic year starts in October.
"When the crisis erupted in 2019 it took the educational sector by surprise," Rene Karam, the head of the Association of Teachers of English (ATEL) in Lebanon, said.
At the start, some private schools laid off higher-paid teachers, around 30% of staff, to save money, but as time went on many others left of their own accord, with half of the 100 teachers in his association now in Iraq, Dubai and Oman.
Salaries starting at 1.5 million Lebanese pounds a month are now worth less than $90 at the street rate in a country where they used to be $1,000.
"We are in a real crisis," he told Reuters.
Private schools make up 70% of the educational sector, with upwards of 1,500 institutions. Rodolphe Abboud, head of the syndicate for private school teachers, said every school has lost between ten to 40 teachers so far, with some staying at home because they can no longer afford childcare.
"We are at the stage of just staying alive, the necessities," he said. "There is not one school now that is not advertising for jobs."
Children from several grades have already been put together for some subjects and daily power cuts and shortages of basic materials also make it difficult for schools to operate.
This week the education ministry cancelled final middle school examinations in response to pressure from parents and staff who had argued economic conditions made them impossible.
"The minister wanted to conduct exams but didn't he know that in Lebanon there is a shortage of paper and ink and teachers can't work for free and schools can't operate without fuel for electricity generators?" Karam said.
The education ministry said it had secured extra pay from donors for teachers supervising exams but most had pulled out.
"The majority of teachers gradually withdrew from supervision and this is what made it impossible to conduct the middle school exams," Hilda Khoury, a director at the ministry, said by email, adding that senior school exams would take place.
Father Boutros Azar, secretary general for Catholic Schools in the Middle East and North Africa, said parents at many of its 321 schools in Lebanon were struggling to pay annual fees that range from 3 million to 8 million pounds.
"But we have made a decision to continue and do whatever it takes to keep schools open," he said.
A government employee said no one had paid the fees for next year yet at the school attended by her two sons, aged 10 and seven. The school had demanded $600 for each child in dollars in addition to 12 million Lebanese pounds.
"Where does anybody get fresh dollars to pay these days? We all get paid in local currency so how are we supposed to get this amount?," she said, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of her job.
Abboud, sitting in one of 130 schools that were damaged by the port blast, said some parents were voting with their feet, putting pressure on the small state sector, or moving abroad.
"We are seeing families going from private schools to public schools and others moving outside of Lebanon to Arab countries or Europe and the US and Canada and this creates a problem."
More teachers are also preparing to leave.
"There is a vast difference between now and two years ago," said 25-year old Joy Fares who has been teaching for five years.
"Then I would say no I want to stay with my family ... but now, no, it makes sense to just go."
How Poland Went from Post-Communist Wreck to One of the World's 20 Biggest Economieshttps://english.aawsat.com/features/5251796-how-poland-went-post-communist-wreck-one-worlds-20-biggest-economies
How Poland Went from Post-Communist Wreck to One of the World's 20 Biggest Economies
FILE - Newer skyscrapers flank the communist-era Palace of Culture and Science, foreground, in n, Poland, May 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz, File)
A generation ago, Poland rationed sugar and flour while its citizens were paid one-tenth what West Germans earned. Today its economy has edged past Switzerland to become the world’s 20th largest with over $1 trillion in annual output.
It’s a historic leap from the post-Communist ruins of 1989-90 to today's European growth champion that economists say has lessons on how to bring prosperity to ordinary people — and that the Trump administration says should be recognized by Poland's presence at a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies later this year.
The transformation is reflected in people like Joanna Kowalska, an engineer from Poznan, a town of half a million people midway between Berlin and Warsaw. She returned home after five years in the US.
“I get asked often if I’m missing something by coming back to Poland, and, to be honest, I feel it’s the other way around,” Kowalska said. “We are ahead of the United States in so many areas.”
Kowalska works at the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center, which is developing the first artificial intelligence factory in Poland and integrating it with a quantum computer, one of 10 on the continent financed by a European Union program.
Kowalska worked for Microsoft in the US after graduating from the Poznan University of Technology in a job she saw as a “dream come true.”
But she missed having a “sense of mission," she said.
“Especially when it comes to artificial intelligence, the technology started developing so rapidly in Poland,” Kowalska added. “So it was very tempting to come back.”
Multiple factors in breaking out of poverty
The guest invitation to the G20 summit is mostly symbolic; no guest country has been promoted to full member since the original G20 met at the finance minister level in 1999, and that would take a consensus decision of all the members. Moreover, the original countries were chosen not just by GDP rank, but by their “systemic significance” in the global economy.
But the gesture reflects a statistical truth: In 35 years — a little less than one person's working lifetime — Poland’s per capita gross domestic product rose to $55,340 in 2025, or 85% of the EU average. That's up from $6,730 in 1990, or 38% of the EU average and now roughly equal to Japan’s $52,039, according to International Monetary Fund figures measured in today's dollars and adjusted for Poland’s lower cost of living.
Poland’s economy has grown an average 3.8% a year since joining the EU in 2004, easily beating the European average of 1.8%.
It wasn't simply one factor that helped Poland break out of the poverty trap, says Marcin Piątkowski of Warsaw’s Kozminski University and author of a book on the country’s economic rise.
One of the most important factors was rapidly building a strong institutional framework for business, he said. That included independent courts, an anti-monopoly agency to ensure fair competition, and strong regulation to keep troubled banks from choking off credit.
As a result, the economy wasn’t hijacked by corrupt practices and oligarchs, as happened elsewhere in the post-Communist world.
Poland also benefited from billions of euros in EU aid, both before and after it joined the bloc in 2004 and gained access to its huge single market.
Above all, there was the broad consensus, from across the country's political spectrum, that Poland’s long-term goal was joining the EU.
“Poles knew where they were going,” Piątkowski said. “Poland downloaded the institutions and the rules of the game, and even some cultural norms that the West spent 500 years developing.”
As oppressive as it was, communism contributed by breaking down old social barriers and opening higher education to factory and farmworkers who had no chance before. A post-Communist boom in higher education means half of young people now have degrees.
“Young Poles are, for instance, better educated than young Germans,” Piatkowski said, but earn half what Germans do. That’s “an unbeatable combination” for attracting investors, he said.
An electric bus ride to success Solaris, a company founded in 1996 in Poznan by Krzysztof Olszewski, is one of the leading manufacturers of electric buses in Europe with a market share of around 15%. Its story shows one hallmark of Poland’s success: entrepreneurship, or the willingness to take risks and build something new.
Educated as an engineer under the Communist government, Olszewski opened a car repair shop where he used spare parts from West Germany to fix Polish cars. While most enterprises were nationalized, authorities gave permission to small-scale private workshops like his to operate, according to Katarzyna Szarzec, an economist at the Poznan University of Economics and Business. “These were enclaves of private entrepreneurship," she said.
In 1996, Olszewski opened a subsidiary of the German bus company Neoplan and started producing for the Polish market.
“Poland’s entry to the EU in 2004 gave us credibility and access to a vast, open European market with the free movement of goods, services and people,” said Mateusz Figaszewski, responsible for institutional relations.
Then came a risky decision to start producing electric buses in 2011, a time when few in Europe were experimenting with the technology. Figaszewski said larger companies in the West had more to lose if switching to electric vehicles didn't work out. "It became an opportunity to achieve technological leadership ahead of the market," he said.
An aging population is still a challenge
Challenges still remain for Poland. Due to a low birth rate and an aging society, fewer workers will be able to support retirees. Average wages are lower than the EU average. While small and medium enterprises flourish, few have become global brands.
Poznan Mayor Jacek Jaśkowiak sees domestic innovation as a third wave in Poland’s postsocialist economic development. In the first wave, foreign countries opened factories in Poland in the early 1990s, taking advantage of a skilled local population.
Around the turn of the millennium, he said, Western companies brought more advanced branches, including finance, IT and engineering.
“Now it’s the time to start such sophisticated activities here,” Jaśkowiak says, adding that one of his main priorities is investing in universities.
“There is still much to do when it comes to innovation and technological progress,” added Szarzec, the Poznan economist. “But we keep climbing up on that ladder of added value. We're no longer just a supplier of spare parts.”
Szarzec's students say more needs to be done to reduce urban-rural inequalities, make housing affordable and support young people starting families. They say Poles need to acknowledge that immigrants, such as the millions of Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion in 2022, contribute to economic development in an aging population.
"Poland has such a dynamic economy, with so many opportunities for development, that of course I am staying," said Kazimierz Falak, 27, one of Szarzec's graduate students. “Poland is promising.”
After Attacks on Iran’s Oil Facilities, Toxic Black Rain Endangers the Publichttps://english.aawsat.com/features/5251448-after-attacks-iran%E2%80%99s-oil-facilities-toxic-black-rain-endangers-public
This video grab taken from UGC images posted on social media on March 7 and 8, 2026 shows fire erupting at an oil depot in Iran's capital Tehran. (UGC / AFP)
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After Attacks on Iran’s Oil Facilities, Toxic Black Rain Endangers the Public
This video grab taken from UGC images posted on social media on March 7 and 8, 2026 shows fire erupting at an oil depot in Iran's capital Tehran. (UGC / AFP)
Clouds of toxic smoke unleashed into the atmosphere by US-Israeli airstrikes on Iranian oil facilities made a dangerous return to Earth in the form of “black rain,” prompting international health officials to warn of serious risks to the public.
Residents in Tehran complained last week of burning eyes and difficulty breathing when the dark and oily precipitation fell near the Iranian capital after several fuel oil depots and a refinery were struck.
Plumes of dark smoke have also been seen across other parts of the region over two weeks of war, as Iran retaliates against US-Israeli airstrikes by firing drones and missiles at the oil and natural gas facilities of its Gulf neighbors.
Rain washes hazardous chemicals out of the atmosphere in a relatively short period of time, experts said, but people exposed to black rain should take precautions to avoid short- and long-term health risks.
Here's what to know:
What is black rain? It occurs when soot, ash and toxic chemicals combine with water droplets in the atmosphere, then fall back to Earth when it rains. It's common after oil refineries or oil fields catch fire, and also can be caused by wildfires, volcanic eruptions and industrial pollution.
In Iran, microscopic soot formed when hydrocarbons in the fuel oil burned incompletely, experts said. Burning oil also forms compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, as well as toxic gases such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which cause acid rain, said Peter Adams, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
What are the health risks of exposure? Microscopic soot, whose particles are about 40 times smaller than the width of a human hair, can lodge deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream, causing breathing and heart problems that can lead to premature death, experts said. Exposure to PAHs can increase cancer risk.
In Iran, the World Health Organization and the country's health and environmental officials advised people to stay indoors and wear masks. They warned that the rainfall was highly acidic and could burn the skin and cause lung damage.
“We can definitely expect acute health effects from an event like this,” said V. Faye McNeill, a chemical engineering professor at Columbia University who specializes in atmospheric chemistry.
Even regular air pollution events can trigger health problems and lead to more hospitalizations, especially among the elderly, children and people who already had health problems, she said. “But this is a higher level, so there likely are health problems going on right now because of it.”
Some Iranians fear the polluted rain, which also contains heavy metals, could contaminate drinking-water reservoirs and waterways.
How long do the chemicals last in the atmosphere? It usually takes only hours for fuel tanks to burn out. But — as happened in Kuwait during the Gulf War 25 years ago — oil fields can burn for months, said Adams.
For fires that burn out more quickly, most of the soot and chemicals will disperse on the wind and wash out of the atmosphere in about three to seven days, Adams said.
“So if we don’t create more problems, at least what’s in the atmosphere is going to go away,” even if long-term health risks haven't, Adams said.
“But we don’t know what’s going to happen with future strikes and whether other tanks will be struck or whether oil fields will be struck,” he added. “I'm less concerned about longer-term or regional stuff, but it's a real mess for the people in the immediate vicinity.”
Mohammed bin Salman in Nine Years: Domestic Growth and Global Engagementhttps://english.aawsat.com/features/5251281-mohammed-bin-salman-nine-years-domestic-growth-and-global-engagement
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman receives the pledge of allegiance as crown prince at Al-Safa Palace in Makkah. (SPA)
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Mohammed bin Salman in Nine Years: Domestic Growth and Global Engagement
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman receives the pledge of allegiance as crown prince at Al-Safa Palace in Makkah. (SPA)
Nine years have passed since the royal decree issued by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, appointing Prince Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince.
The prince’s presence in a leadership role that reflects the pulse and ambitions of Saudi youth, alongside the guidance of the king, helped launch a domestic vision that accelerated economic and social development while strengthening Saudi Arabia’s position as a leading actor in addressing the region’s shifting landscape, in addition to expanding its global reach and influence.
Fundamental transformations
Over the years, the Kingdom has witnessed turning points marked by positive developments and fundamental transformations. These were not merely superficial changes, but efforts to shape new directions that redefine the concept of success in the 21st century. The objective extended beyond change within Saudi Arabia itself to efforts aimed at shifting the broader region from conflict toward development.
Among the latest manifestations of that approach has been work to calm several regional conflicts and create opportunities for peace. In parallel, Saudi Arabia has become an influential international destination on the global map, according to numerous studies, commentaries, and research addressing major international issues and regional transformations.
As a result, the Kingdom has hosted dozens of summits and hundreds of high-level meetings on key global issues, particularly political ones. The king and crown prince have also met a large number of world leaders, with nearly 120 visits recorded in recent years.
From an early stage, the Saudi crown prince led a drive to expand the Kingdom’s engagement with the world on multiple fronts, including economic and cultural ties. Political openness has also emerged as a defining feature of recent years, reaching levels not previously seen in Saudi Arabia or the wider region.
Many observers say that Riyadh’s policies under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in recent years have strengthened the Kingdom’s role in complex international issues and helped bring various parties to the negotiating table, including through efforts to promote peace through dialogue.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Chinese president during one of his visits to Saudi Arabia (SPA).
International standing
Over the past decade, Saudi Arabia has been the only Middle Eastern country to host the leaders of the United States, China and Russia within a span of just a few months, despite intensifying geopolitical tensions worldwide.
This period has been marked by a series of global crises, from the war in Ukraine and trade and economic disputes to the war in Gaza and tensions across the Middle East. The developments have positioned Saudi Arabia as a key actor influencing international policies, reflected in the scale, number and level of diplomatic visits and consultations with the Kingdom, particularly since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, as well as the international summits and meetings held on Saudi soil aimed at achieving peace.
International mediation
Saudi diplomacy has also played an active role in recent years. Under the direction of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who also serves as prime minister, the Kingdom hosted US-Ukrainian talks as part of efforts to address the crisis, drawing on its balanced relations with various parties.
These efforts also included meetings in Diriyah and Jeddah last year involving the United States, Russia and Ukraine. The initiatives reflect an increasingly international orientation in Saudi foreign policy centered on peace efforts, ceasefires and ending wars, including continued mediation initiatives and promoting dialogue as a primary solution during the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Saudi Arabia has also directed the provision of multiple forms of humanitarian assistance and relief support, as well as mediation efforts aimed at securing the release of prisoners.
Commenting on those efforts, Michael Mitchell, a regional spokesperson for the US State Department, previously told Asharq Al-Awsat that the world had become closer than ever to reaching a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine following negotiations hosted by Saudi Arabia. He expressed Washington’s appreciation for the Kingdom’s role in advancing ongoing diplomatic efforts and hosting key talks, while reaffirming the US commitment to working with all relevant parties to achieve lasting peace in Ukraine.
The Palestinian issue
The Palestinian issue has witnessed diplomatic momentum described as unprecedented in decades. In recent months and years, Saudi Arabia has pushed many countries to recognize a Palestinian state, bringing the total number of recognizing states to 149, according to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.
The Saudi crown prince has also reiterated the Kingdom’s position that normalization with Israel would not proceed without the establishment of a Palestinian state. Saudi Arabia has hosted Arab and Islamic countries in Riyadh on two consecutive occasions to unify positions and increase pressure on the international community.
The Kingdom also chaired the committee formed by the summit, led an international coalition supporting the two-state solution, and presided over an international conference on the issue in New York.
In remarks previously made to Asharq Al-Awsat, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa praised what he described as “Saudi Arabia’s firm positions, which contributed to shaping international consensus toward recognizing a Palestinian state and providing all possible support, given that its realization within the framework of a two-state solution represents the foundation of peace, security and stability in the Middle East.”
Supporting Syria’s recovery
The Kingdom began expanding its support for Syria after it announced in late December 2025 that a Saudi delegation led by an adviser to the Royal Court had visited Damascus and met with Ahmad Al-Sharaa, then the “leader of the new administration” and now Syria's president.
Saudi air and land bridges continued to deliver aid to the Syrian people, alongside humanitarian, medical and development projects. By the end of last year, those projects had increased by more than 100 percent compared with 2024, reaching more than 103 initiatives with a total cost approaching $100 million.
Saudi Arabia also welcomed Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa three times during the year. The Kingdom pushed for the lifting of US sanctions on Syria, which the US president announced from Riyadh in May at the request of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Additional support included paying roughly $15 million in Syrian debt to the World Bank and covering part of Syrian government employees’ salaries through a joint initiative with Qatar and the United Nations.
Regional initiatives
Saudi diplomatic initiatives have also extended to multiple regional crises. These include efforts to end the Yemeni crisis and hosting Yemeni parties, including southern groups, while facilitating the first consultative meeting on the southern issue and providing a framework for dialogue on the matter this year.
Saudi Arabia also supported evacuation operations in Sudan, hosted the Jeddah platform on Sudan, and continued humanitarian assistance. More recently, high-level Saudi-US discussions led by the Saudi crown prince and the US president have focused on efforts to resolve the Sudanese crisis.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Riyadh in December 2023 (SPA).
Summits and consensus
Alongside its expanding regional and international role, Saudi Arabia has also played a significant role on the Arab and Islamic fronts during the nine years since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman assumed his position.
Under his direction, the Kingdom hosted seven Arab and Islamic summits between 2018 and 2024. These included the Dhahran Arab Summit in April 2018, the Makkah Summit in Support of Jordan in June 2018, the Emergency Arab Summit in Makkah in May 2019, the Arab-China Summit in December 2022, the Jeddah Arab Summit in May 2023, the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit in November 2023, and a follow-up summit in November 2024.
Last year, Saudi Arabia also strengthened its defense and strategic capabilities through a defense agreement with Pakistan stipulating that any attack on either country would be considered an attack on both. The Kingdom also signed a defense agreement with Washington during a historic visit to the United States in November 2025, in addition to expanding cooperation with major international powers including China, Russia and European countries.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Donald Trump in Washington in November 2025 (SPA).
“A great dawn” in relations with the United States
US President Donald Trump praised the leadership of the Saudi crown prince, saying, “The Saudi crown prince best represents our strong allies,” and adding that “a great dawn” awaits the Middle East.
Trump also described Saudi Arabia as “the heart and center of the world,” and said Riyadh was on track to become a global business hub.
During the crown prince’s visit to Washington late last year, the two countries signed a wide-ranging package of agreements that included a strategic defense agreement, the Kingdom’s second defense agreement signed in 2025, along with a package of defense sales, cooperation in civilian nuclear energy, a strategic partnership in artificial intelligence, a framework for securing supply chains for uranium and minerals, and measures to accelerate investment.
The US president also announced the designation of Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally and praised Saudi negotiating capabilities, describing the Saudis as “great negotiators.”
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