Sun rises on Ramadan in a Middle East hit by earthquake and water shortages

Economic crisis in Lebanon and soaring prices caused by war in Ukraine add to region's challenges

People receive free sweet drinks for iftar in Peshawar, Pakistan. EPA

Muslim worshipers perform taraweeh prayers for Ramadan at Al Basha Mosque in Mosul, Iraq. Reuters

Policeman Ahmed fires a traditional Ramadan cannon to announce iftar in Cairo, Egypt. EPA

A girl at Quran recitation classes during Ramadan in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir. AP

Confectioners prepare traditional sweets for Ramadan in the Sadria district of central Baghdad. AFP

Muslim students offer prayers during Ramadan at an Islamic boarding school in Medan, Indonesia. AFP

A Muslim woman views Canary Wharf in the City of London during an Iftar event at 22 Bishopsgate. EPA

Morocco's King Mohammed VI and Crown Prince Moulay launch the nationwide Ramadan 1444 operation in the city of Sale, north of the capital Rabat, to assist five million disadvantaged Moroccans in Ramadan. AFP

Volunteers prepare Ramadan pre-dawn suhoor meals for distribution in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday. AFP

Afghanistan and Pakistan’s T20 teams pray together on the second day of Ramadan before play at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Worshippers attend prayers on the first Friday of the holy month at the Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara, Turkey. AFP

An iftar cannon is fired at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi on the first Friday of Ramadan. Victor Besa / The National

Muslims after Friday prayers at the Ali Jim'ale Mosque in Mogadishu, Somalia. Reuters

Men pray at the Grand Mosque, Khartoum. AP

Prayers at the main mosque during Ramadan in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. EPA

Worshippers after prayers on first day of Ramadan at the Kowloon Mosque in Hong Kong. AP

Visitors buy cotton candy at an entertainment area in Tripoli. AFP

Muslims break their fast in a street in Abidjan in Ivory Coast. EPA

Palestinians celebrate the lighting of Ramadan lanterns in Jerusalem's Old City. EPA

A street lit up for Ramadan in the West End of London. EPA

Ukrainian Muslims break their fast at the Ar-Rahma Mosque in Kyiv. EPA

Muslims gather for free Iftar meals at Sheikh Abdul Qader Gilani mosque in Baghdad. AP

Muslims gather before the Kaaba in Makkah as they perform the maghrib prayer to mark the end of the first day of fasting at the Grand Mosque. AFP

Muslims seated for iftar in Adiyaman, Turkey. EPA

A volunteer prepares iftar food at the Data Darbar shrine in Lahore, Pakistan. AFP

A Palestinian woman reads the Quran during the first day of Ramadan, at Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. Reuters

People look through binoculars and a telescope to view the crescent moon marking the start of Ramadan, in Najaf, Iraq. Reuters

Prayers at Al Bidya Mosque in Fujairah, the oldest mosque in the UAE, a day before Ramadan. Leslie Pableo for The National

Women pray during the first evening of Ramadan at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Solo, Indonesia. Reuters

Members of the Muslim Scout Association play drums during events to mark the beginning of the holy fasting month, in Sidon, Lebanon. Reuters

Worshippers perform taraweeh evening prayers at Al Azhar Mosque, in Cairo. Reuters

A tent mosque set up after February's powerful earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. EPA

A man sits inside a mosque on the first day of Ramadan, in Marikina, the Philippines. AP

The first morning prayers of Ramadan at Al Farooq Omar bin Al Khattab Mosque in Dubai. Antonie Robertson / The National

A Palestinian man sells traditional Ramadan lanterns, called fanous, in Gaza City. EPA

A woman shops for Ramadan decorations, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Reuters

Abu Dhabi's Bani Hashim Mosque, on the first morning of Ramadan. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

The Sun rose on Thursday on the first day of Ramadan in a region that suffered a huge earthquake last month and faces an array of other challenges.

Some Middle East residents will be celebrating the holy month while dealing with water shortages, soaring prices and economic crises.

For the second year, Ramadan is taking place against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, which began in February last year.

This has disrupted grain exports from Ukraine and Russia and caused prices to soar around the world — with a particular impact in Yemen and Lebanon, which are in the midst of economic crises.

In recent days, Lebanese people criticised a shop for pricing lentil soup — a Ramadan staple — at $5, as part of the outlet's iftar menu. This comes at a time when food prices have gone up by 2,000 per cent, in some instances, since 2019.

A Twitter user under the name Falullahh asked: “If a casual place like this is charging this much, what will 'fancier' places be charging? A kidney?”

In Yemen, providing drinking water is a burden that largely falls on the shoulders of women and girls, who often have to drop out of school to be able to walk long distances to fetch supplies for their families.

In the Arab world's poorest country, water was already difficult to find before the conflict between the internationally recognised government and Iran-backed Houthi rebels began in 2014.

Now, 90 per cent of the population relies on some form of assistance for survival and development projects are vital for millions of people.

Local non-governmental organisation Food4Humanity has just completed a solar-powered water station in Yemen's south-western province of Ibb, helping 11,500 people in five villages.

“We don't go to school. We can't,” a young Yemeni child said in a video published by the group.

“We are busy travelling to other nearby villages to carry water back home. So, we don't have time to go to school.”

This year, too, is the first time Ramadan is being spent away from home for many of those displaced by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Syria and Turkey in February, killing more than 52,000 people across both countries.

“We used to look forward to Ramadan as the most beautiful month of every year,” Rama Jamal, 19, told AP, recalling how her family would decorate the house and sit together reading the Quran.

Now, she lives alone in the war-ravaged northern Idlib province of Syria. After surviving more than a decade of war, her parents and brother were killed in the earthquake.

“Now I’m by myself, and there’s no mood of Ramadan, there’s no joy,” Ms Jamal said.

“I’m missing my family all the time, every hour.”

The Ramadan fast is one of Islam's five pillars and a requirement for all able-bodied Muslims, with the exception of children, people who are sick, pregnant, breastfeeding and menstruating women and people who are travelling.

In addition to from refraining from drinking and eating from dusk until dawn, observant Muslims are also required to abstain from smoking and having sex during the fast.

Swearing and angry outbursts are also discouraged.

During the month, many Muslims spend more time reading the Quran, often aiming to read it from cover to cover.