''The Syria Times'' ( ar, سيريا تايمز) was an English-language

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n daily newspaper.

Profile

''The Syria Times'' was published by Tishreen Organization for Press and Publishing, a government-owned company that publishes the leading Arabic daily '' Tishreen''. As of 2000, these two newspapers had a circulation of 5,000 and 60,000, respectively.

Condemnation of Iraq war

In March and April 2003, ''The Syria Times'' received some international attention due to its harsh condemnation of the US-led

war against Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

, well in line with the official Syrian discourse in the debates of the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...

. For instance, ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' noticed that “''The Syria Times'' attacked

Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

's "unholy war" and his "imperialist strategy to control the Arab oil-rich region””. In an interview with ''

The Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europea ...

'' magazine, Fuad Mardood, editor of ''The Syria Times'', said: “I cannot imagine that there is anyone in Syria who wants to attack our policy (…) You can find people who have personal motives who may attack the system, but it is only to achieve personal goals.” In late May 2008, Mohammad Agha was released from his position as editor-in-chief of ''Syria Times''. The decision was apparently made by the Minister for Information

Mohsen Bilal Muhsen Bilal ( ar, محسن بلال) (born 1944) is a Syrian surgeon, ambassador and Ba'athist politician. Early life and education Bilal was born into a prominent Alawite family in Burghalieh, Tartus Governorate, in 1944. His father lived in ...

. A history of differences between the two had been reported. The official reason for Agha's termination was failure to catch a mistake regarding the caption accompanying a photograph.

Closure

On 8 June 2008, ''The Syria Times'' was closed for an indefinite period of time. Various reasons were given, chief amongst them issues relating to the contract for the new editor-in-chief. A report on the viability of the ''Syria Times'' was delivered to the People's Assembly (the Syrian parliament) in July, and assistance was requested to restart the newspaper. Following lengthy delays, a 2-year agreement (since extended) was signed with the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

(UNDP) to assist the newspaper to the tune of $900,000 used for analysis, restructuring, training and equipment."Support to the Syria Times Newspaper"
UNDP Syria No official date has been set for recommencing publishing of the ''Syria Times''.

Relaunch as E-newspaper

On 6 October 2012, the then minister of information

Omran al-Zoubi Omran Ahed al-Zoubi ( ar, عمران عاهد الزعبي) (27 September 1959 in Damascus, Syria – 6 July 2018 in Damascus, Syria) was the Minister of Information in the Government of Syria from 23 June 2012 until July 2016. He died from a hea ...

inaugurated the first Syrian e-newspaper "Syria Times". The launching coincided with the country's celebrations of the 39th anniversary of the Liberation War of October, led by the late President

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1 ...

. On the importance of the re-launching the "Syria Times" e-newspaper, Minister al-Zou'bi said: "We are in need for new tools to communicate with English-speaking communities, as to address the people of these communities and present our views and causes the way they understand, and not the way we want to." Director General of al-Wehda Press Foundation, Khalaf al-Meftah, expressed hope that the re-launching of the ''Syria Times'' would be a further step forward by the Syrian Media, in continuation of the ongoing tireless media efforts as to disseminate the reality of the events on the ground, and as to expose media outlets of fabrications and lies. On his part, the ''Syria Times'' editor-in-chief, Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim, underlined that the daily, at the directive of information minister, Omran al-Zou'bi, would adopt in its media coverage the main principles and ethics of journalism, including those of transparency, credibility, and objectivity. ''The main contents of the daily focus on issues and topics related to national reconciliation, dialogue, society, politics, Syrian Expatriates, environment, tourism, archaeology, sports, economy, culture, as well on other interactive varied topic and issues of debate.'' added Al-Ibrahim.

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