Stories about Syria from May, 2007
Syria: A Letter from a Syrian Worker in Lebanon
Golaniya posted a letter from a Syrian Worker in Lebanon. “In Lebanon, our hopes are now starting to flee away. We are outcasts. We receive all kinds of cursing and swearing from people. We sometimes got hit and killed. This happens when politicians, deliberately and non deliberately, make their loaded...
Syria: Assad for a second term with the “approval” of 97.68%
President Bashar Assad won his second term in office by a landslide. 97.62% voted “Yes” on the presidential referendum this week. Andre of Flight of Ideas, cannot comprehend though how the turnout could reach 95.86% of the eligible voters, as the ministry of interior had said earlier. “in comparison with...
Israel: What's Wrong With Golan?
Israeli blogger Shmuel writes about how a customer service center in Jerusalem, which promises to deliver packages anywhere in Israel, refuses to deliver him a package to his home in Golan Heights.
Jordan: The Other 3% in Syria
From Jordan, Naseem Al Tarawnah writes: ‘The BBC Reported: “The interior ministry said he (Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) won the backing of more than 97% of Syria’s 12 million voters in Sunday’s referendum.” Question: If Bashar Al-Assad was running unopposed, who were the other 3% voting for?’
Egypt: From Here and There
Egypt-based blogger Issandr El Amrani selects a few essential readings here, where he links to articles of interest to his readers including one about how some Iraqi refugees are turning to the sex trade in Syria and the uproar an agreement to send 120,000 Egyptian housemaids to Saudi Arabia has...
Egypt: New Syria Opposition Website Launched
“On the occasion of the re-election (surprise!) of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a new clearinghouse for Syrian opposition news has just been launched. Check out OpenSyria.org,” writes Issandr El Amrani from Egypt.
Syria: Presidential Referendum and Lebanon Clashes
Today, Syria is reelecting president Bashar Assad for a new seven-year term in office. The process is done through a referendum, which means there will be no other challengers. The referendum paper has a green circle that says "Yes" and a gray one that says "No". The result is expected to be 99.xx% in favour of the president - as is the tradition in Syria for the last 37 years. Yazan Badran sums up the reactions of Syrian bloggers here.
Syria: 14 Killed in Bus Accident
“14 people have died after an Iraqi bus crashed on the Aleppo to Raqqa highway. 20 others are injured. The bus had just crossed the border from Iraq, and was travelling on the wrong side of the road. The Aleppo to Raqqa highway is one of the country's accident hotspots,”...
Syria: Spring Blooms
Syrian blogger Abd gives us a break from politics and posts photographs of some of his country's spring blooms here.
Syria: Lebanon is Boiling
Writing from Syria, Mustafa Hamido says: “Lebanon is boiling. It is the filed of all conflicts in the world. When US tried to prove its strength in the world after its clear defeat in Iraq went to Lebanon and has supported anti-Eastern powers which includes an important portion of Christian...
Syria: Lebanese Ceasefire
“Fateh Al Islam has accepted a government offer of a ceasefire. They say they will stop attacks if the army does not attack them. The army has responded by saying they never fire first. Humanitarian organisations say it's vital to have a break in fighting to get food and water...
Syria: Bombing Nahr el Bared Camp
Blogger Golaniya from Syria announces: “My friend Ashraf, a Palestinian refugee in Rashydyeh Camp in the South, has recently launched his blog, and posted about the current Uncovered situation of Nahr el Bared camp.”
Arabeyes: The Middle East in Pictures
Today's Middle East in Pictures tour takes us to Dubai's lovely beaches, Doha at night, a picture of a flower in Bahrain, the blooming flower gardens of Syria this spring and finally on a Viagra buying spree in the bazaars of Fez, in Morocco.
Syria: An Interview with Abu Fares
Abu Fares is a real Tartoussi (from Tartous) as he likes to describe himself and is one of the most genuinely admired bloggers on the Syrian blogsphere. Yazan Badran interviews him as he marks his blog's first anniversary.
Jordan: Arab Media Watchdog
Jordanian blogger Lina links to a news article which says that journalists from five Arab countries are to launch a media watchdog group in reaction to what they call increased restrictions on press workers in the region. According to the article, 20 reporters from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Morocco and...
Kurdistance: The Honor Killing of Dua
This may seem like old news....but it isn't. Even though the tragic honor killing of a young girl in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan took place in early April, sometimes the meaning of these sad stories take a while to surface. There are conflicting reports about how 17-year-old Dua died, some say that she was lynched, some stoned to death, others say both. What we do know was that Dua was a young girl in love, who left her Yezidi faith to live her life with a man that she loved. She was brave and idealistic; and she died horribly because of it. A mob of Yezidi men dragged her into the street, tore her clothes to shame her, and then the mob killed her...the final blow being a large rock taken to her head. And someone filmed this horror, which is floating around the internet somewhere if you truly wish to see it. What is important, is that this tragedy not only is sad in the individual sense of this girl's death, it is also sad in what it signifies for a culture and society eager to change, but unable to, as the Kurdish bloggers point out.
Syria: Term-end Exams Are Postponed for “Spontaneous” Celebrations
The Ministry of Education in Syria has apparently decided to postpone the exams that happen to coincide with the celebrations of the next presidential referendum. So that the students can take part in the “spontaneous” show of support for the president. ‘The Ministry, guided by the Baath Party, has declared...
Syria: A Challenger to Assad's Presidency
Lawyer Abdallah al-Khalil announced that he submitted an application to be nominated for presidency of Syria, days before the referendum on current President Bashar Assad. Citing a constiutional contradiction, between two articles, one calls for chosing the President through the elctoral process, while the other [which is curently put in...
Syria: censorship and repression
Based on a list, by ISP, provided by the Syrian center for media and freedom of Expression, the Tharwa community has posted a brief history of the Internet Filtering in Syria, which describes the crackdown on online freedom of speech. Most of the blocked websites are related to freedom of...
Syria: A Black Week for Freedom, Back to Our Golan and Censorship
It has been a particularly rough week for Syria and Syrian bloggers are venting out their frustration at the imprisonment of human rights activist Dr Kamal Labwani for 12 years, reports Yazan Badran. Bloggers are also vocal about the situation in the Golan Heights and censorship.
Syria: Human Rights Activist Gets 12 Years in Jail
Syrian blogger Abu Kareem reports that human rights activist Kamal al-Labwani was sentenced to 12 years in prison for communicating with a foreign country and inciting it to initiate aggression against Syria.
