Damascus: Syria’s minister of information in the country’s transitional government told AFP he is working toward a free press and committed to “freedom of expression,” after decades of tight control under the country’s former rulers.
“We are working to consolidate freedoms of the press and expression that were severely restricted” in areas controlled by the former government of Bashar Assad, said the minister, Mohamed Al-Omar, after Islamist-led rebels on December 8 ended more than five decades of rule by the Assad clan.
Syria’s ruling Baath party and the Assad family dynasty heavily curtailed all aspects of daily life, including freedom of the press and expression with the media a tool of those in power.
Reporters Without Borders, a freedom of information watchdog, ranked Syria second-last on its 2024 World Press Freedom Index, ahead only of Eritrea and behind Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
“There was a heavy restriction on freedom of the press and expression under the regime which practiced censorship. In the period to come we are working on the reconstruction of a media landscape that is free, objective and professional,” Omar said during an interview with AFP on Tuesday.
He is part of the interim administration installed in Damascus by the victorious rebel coalition led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.
The group has its origins in the Syrian branch of the jihadist group Al-Qaeda and is designated a terrorist organization by numerous governments, but has sought to soften its image in recent years.
Diplomats from around the region and from the West have made contact with Syria’s new rulers, who have also vowed to protect the country’s religious and ethnic minorities.
Omar was previously minister of information in the self-proclaimed Salvation Government, the civil administration set up in 2017 by HTS in the rebel holdout of Idlib province, in Syria’s northwest. It was from Idlib that the rebels began their lightning advance toward Damascus, 13 years into the country’s civil war.
After the conflict erupted in 2011 with the government’s brutal repression of pro-democracy protests, Assad tightened restrictions on independent journalism.
“We don’t want to continue in the same way, that is, have an official media whose aim is to polish the image of the ruling power,” Omar said.
Following Assad’s overthrow and flight to Moscow, Syrian media outlets which had trumpeted his regime’s glories quickly adopted a revolutionary fervor.
On Tuesday Omar held an exchange with dozens of Syrian journalists to discuss the transition.

LONDON: A 21-year-old journalist was killed in the West Bank on Sunday, with her family saying Palestinian Authority security forces were responsible for her death.

Shatha Al-Sabbagh died from gunshot wounds to the head near her home in the Jenin refugee camp, according to Jenin Governmental Hospital.

Her death brings the number of journalists killed in Gaza and the West Bank in the past two weeks to 10.

In a statement, Al-Sabbagh’s family said: “We hold the Palestinian Authority and its security services directly responsible for this crime. 

“This dangerous escalation shows that these agencies have become repressive tools practicing terrorism against their people, instead of protecting their dignity and confronting the Israeli occupation,” the family added.

The PA has been accused of a brutal crackdown on anti-Israel armed groups in Jenin and other areas since early December.

The authority said the campaign is part of a broader effort to “pursue criminals” and prevent areas like Jenin from becoming battlegrounds similar to Gaza.

At least six West Bank residents and five PA security officers were reportedly killed during clashes in these operations.

Palestinian security forces spokesman Anwar Rajab denied the accusations, attributing Al-Sabbagh’s death to “outlaws” in the camp.

He said that preliminary investigations and eyewitness testimonies indicated no PA security forces were present at the scene, a claim rejected by the family and residents of the Mahyoub neighborhood in Jenin.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has called for an independent investigation into Al-Sabbagh’s killing, urging the inclusion of a syndicate representative to ensure transparency and accountability.

Criticism of the PA’s campaign has also come from factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who accuse the authority of targeting resistance fighters in Jenin.

Some experts said that the PA is trying to impose its dominance over the region and demonstrate its ability to govern and manage internal security in postwar Gaza.

Local reports suggest the PA also stopped Qatar-based Al Jazeera’s operations in several West Bank cities, including Jenin and Tubas, earlier this month.

Al Jazeera condemned what it described as an “incitement campaign” by the PA’s ruling Fatah party against the network and its journalists.

Tensions throughout the West Bank remain high, exacerbated by Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 44,500 people, the majority of them women and children.

The year has been especially deadly for media workers in Palestine. At least 60 journalists were killed in 2024, most of them by Israeli forces.

On Friday, five media workers were killed in Gaza in an Israeli strike on their vehicle, which was clearly marked with the word “Press.”

Earlier in December, Israeli airstrikes killed four other journalists in separate incidents on Dec. 14 and 15.