Just a day after the huge explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, another disaster hits the Middle East.
The extent of the devastation and the death toll from the explosion in Beirut is still unknown. Today, another country in the Middle East is facing devastation from a major fire that has taken place at a popular market. The extent will not be anywhere near what Beirut is facing, but the cause is still unknown, and we have no reports on casualties.
As I am writing this, Reuters has just a simple two-sentence report that a large fire broke out in a market in the emirate of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday evening.
Al Arabiya is reporting that specialized teams are working to evacuate the market as firefighters work to extinguish the blaze. Sources confirmed that additional firefighters from other emirates may be called in to assist if the fire cannot be controlled.
It looks absolutely awful.
As night falls, fire crews are struggling to put out the market fire in Ajman, UAE. No word on the cause yet. pic.twitter.com/VlJYnqSpP6
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 5, 2020
مشاهد أولية.. حريق مخيف يلتهم سوقًا شعبيًا في إمارة #عجمان#الإمارات pic.twitter.com/JjmqI8ccmS
— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) August 5, 2020
There is sure to be significant damage.
There are also reports on social media that there are fires in Najaf, Iraq, but some of the videos being shared looks like the UAE fire.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1291049704747421696?s=20
Now Fire 🔥 in #Iraq
Several warehouses are on fire in the city of #Najaf, #Iraq
People nearby report hearing sounds similar to fireworks coming from the scene
Yesterday, reportedly fireworks were heard by people near the blast site in #Beirut , #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/DyNn8HRD0N
— Supriya Bhardwaj (@Supriya23bh) August 5, 2020
Others look like a whole different place.
Fires have broken out in over 20 Najaf warehouses in Iraq said to store food. Would food burn this easily? pic.twitter.com/uEmFnpBAbf
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 5, 2020
There are no current reports by any news agency (reputable or otherwise) that there are fires currently going on in Iraq.
Zero. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Not even the Associated Press or non-American outlets that are often quick with news like this such as The Times of India or Jerusalem Post.
Because we don’t speak Arabic and have to rely on the people that show gun range footage from Kentucky claiming it’s an attack on the Kurds the conspiracy theorists are out in force.
This is precisely why we need a responsible, reliable media that reports the facts as they are instead of as making sure that their reportage fits some narrative.
So, everyone–settle down and let’s wait to hear what’s exactly is going on before sharing some rando’s Twitter post claiming that half of the Middle East is engulfed in flames based on a retweet of a video from an unverified user that was originally captioned in Arabic, ok? You don’t even know if that’s current footage or from years ago.
The world would be a better place if we all–especially our press–learned the lesson from the early reports on the Covington Catholic kids–you don’t always know the whole story, and that can be quite costly.
We’ve seen how one image taken out of context can change everything.
A single heartrending photo of a dead toddler in 2015 completely changed Europe and much of the narrative was a lie.
