''The Syria Times'' () is an English-language

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n daily e-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, 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, an ...

. For instance, ''

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

'' noticed that “''The Syria Times'' attacked Bush's "unholy war" and his "imperialist strategy to control the Arab oil-rich region””. In an interview with '' The Middle East'' 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. 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) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

(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 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 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...

. 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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