Finding hope in a harrowing year of global conflict and human suffering

With the world’s attention focused on conflict elsewhere, the shock advance of Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) into Aleppo brought Syria’s seemingly endless civil war back to the forefront of people’s minds. On Thursday, HTS also took the strategic city of Hama from regime forces and are now heading towards Homs, the final major city before Damascus.

This week our reporters have been working to explain this sudden development and what it means for the Assad regime and its allies. In our First Edition briefing, Archie Bland laid out the history of the conflict and who HTS are, while international security correspondent Jason Burke explained how HTS militants were able to seize Aleppo so quickly. Russia has played a vital role in propping up Bashar al-Assad but, wrote Pjotr Sauer, with Putin’s military drained by its war on Ukraine, the sudden recapture of Syria’s second city threatens Russia’s strategic foothold in the region.

Ruth Michaelson spoke to those living in Aleppo, who are extremely fearful of what will come next, whether that’s life under Islamist rule, or reprisals from Damascus and its allies. The retaliation in rebel-controlled Idlib came quickly, with regime airstrikes hitting medical facilities, including children’s hospitals, across the city. Kaamil Ahmed spoke to doctors there about the extent of the damage.

In her column this week, Nesrine Malik wrote about the vast amount of pain being suffered by so many across the Arab world. Nesrine, Ruth and Kaamil’s pieces all speak to a tragic inevitability of conflict: it is ordinary people, and particularly children, who suffer the most. This has been an especially harrowing year of war and human suffering across the planet. As well as the horrors in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan, armed conflicts elsewhere – including those in Haiti, Columbia, Central African Republic, Myanmar, Syria, Ethiopia, and Democratic Republic of Congo – leave in their wake a trail of terror, chaos, and grief.

On this theme, yesterday we launched the Guardian and Observer’s annual charity appeal. This year we are raising money for two charities that do critical work in some of the most dangerous parts of the world, Médecins Sans Frontières and War Child, as well as a third, Parallel Histories, which works to give schools the confidence and techniques to teach contested histories. You can read more about them and our appeal here.

Since 2015, our appeals have raised more than £13.5m from readers for causes including supporting refugees, fighting child poverty, and tackling the climate crisis. Your generosity has been incredible and enduring. We hope we can inspire you to donate once again. You can do so by clicking here.

Finally, industrial action was taken by staff in the UK on Wednesday and Thursday in response to the potential sale of the Observer, Guardian News & Media’s Sunday newspaper, to Tortoise. This is a difficult period, and I understand how strongly our staff and many readers feel about this deal, which has now been agreed in principle. But we believe that, if the deal were to conclude, it would give the Observer the chance to thrive as a standalone digital and print news brand. The Scott Trust, the ultimate owner of the Guardian and the Observer, is also committed to retaining a stake in the future of the Observer. We will keep readers updated as the talks progress.

On Monday, the Belgian state was found guilty of crimes against humanity for the forced removal of five mixed-race children from their mothers in colonial Congo. The children were among thousands taken by order of the state. Before the verdict was passed, Brussels correspondent Jennifer Rankin retraced the journey of the five survivors who took the state to court in the Observer. It’s a harrowing, important story.

South Korea’s president Yoon Suk Yeol faces impeachment after briefly declaring martial law. Korean film-maker Haeryun Kang wrote about experiencing the suspension of normal civil rights, a first for her younger generation, but something Korean elders are well used to since the separation of the two Koreas in 1953.

Rebecca Solnit wrote about the American working class and how everyone seems to have a different view of what it is – and how this misunderstanding became a political cudgel that helped lead to Donald Trump’s victory. Peter Turchin wrote about the deep historical forces that explain Trump’s win. David Smith described Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter this week as “heartfelt hypocrisy” and a dangerous precedent that will only tarnish his reputation.

In the UK, Kiran Stacey and Jasper Jolly revealed that ministers are considering renationalising British Steel amid a £1bn standoff with the company’s Chinese owners.

The Paris Olympics were full of incredible moments, none more so than when Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis – cheered on by his rivals – broke the men’s pole vault world record for a ninth time. Chief sports reporter Sean Ingle wrote about why Duplantis’s astonishing year (15 competitions, 15 wins) makes him the standout athlete of 2024.

Elle Hunt wrote insightfully about the people turning to AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, and using them as stand-in therapists and counsellors, to help them modify their responses and even texts to loved ones or ex-partners.

How is a 15-year-old who died in 2006 on the brink of becoming a new Catholic saint? Linda Kinstler told the story of Carlo Acutis’s journey towards canonisation – and the fascinating process of how new saints are chosen in this great Long read.

Last month a civil jury ordered Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor to pay nearly €250,000 in damages over rape and assault claims. Ashifa Kassam and Lisa O’Carroll wrote about calls in Ireland for a rethink of how society interacts with power, wealth and a “manosphere” intent on pushing its own notions of masculinity.

As the horrific trial of Dominique Pelicot and his co-accused moves towards its conclusion in Avignon, France, Kim Willsher interviewed the lawyer representing Gisèle Pelicot in a gripping, horrifying piece. Stéphane Babonneau explained how he had had to look at many of the 20,000 videos and photographs Dominique Pelicot had made of his wife being raped and sexually abused and the dilemma he faced in sharing the details with the victim.

Guardian Australia science writer Donna Lu looked at the science behind why humans kiss, including one new theory that it originates from primate grooming behaviour deep in our evolutionary past.

Feature writer Kate Lloyd asked 11 people to open about the cosmetic treatments they have, or haven’t, had done to their face. The results – from a podcaster who spent £135,000 on treatments to a 96-year-old model with her cheap moisturiser – were extremely interesting, with great pictures from Andrew Magurran. Kate also talked to actors from around the world who have appeared in local versions of famous shows, from India’s Chandler Bing, to Poland’s David Brent and the Colombian Walter White and more. Could they be more Chandler?

One more thing … I love everything Anne Enright writes, fiction and nonfiction, and can recommend this piece from the New York Review of Books about Enright’s love of Alice Munro’s writing and her rereading of it in light of this summer’s terrible revelations about the abuse of Munro’s daughter by her stepfather. In the same edition I also loved Fintan O’Toole on disinhibited America.

Cook this | Yotam Ottolenghi’s harissa trout rillettes with creme fraiche and horseradish

This dazzling and delicious starter practically serves itself. Simply mix, assemble and enjoy. It can also be prepped in advance and kept in the fridge until you need it, perfect for parties.

Listen to this | New Zealand: the fight to protect Māori rights

In what could be the biggest protest march in New Zealand’s history to date, 42,000 people took to the roads. Today In Focus looks at what sparked the demonstration, which critics say was brought about by the rightwing government’s attempt to fundamentally redraw the relationship between the Māori people and the state.

Watch this | The Things We Don’t Say: children of the Rwandan genocide

A group of young adults born during or just after the 1994 genocide against Rwanda’s Tutsi people gather to find the courage to break a powerful taboo. Rwanda is one of the few nations in the world providing specialist counselling for children conceived through rape, who number 10,000 across the country.

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