http://www.iwpr.net Syria Press Monitor is published by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, an independent non-profit organisation supporting regional media and democratic change. IWPR's Syria Media Report provides a round-up of news and opinion stories from newspapers and websites inside the country, as well as from diaspora publications. IWPR cannot vouch for the accuracy of the reports. en-us Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:54:42 GMT Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:54:42 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss APC ActionApps Yigal@iwpr.net (Yigal Chazan) Srdan@iwpr.net (Srdan Pajic)
Ezeldin al-Darwish wrote that Washington had failed to create a “proper atmosphere for peace” in the region, adding that the commitment of the US towards peace remained only on paper and was not yet translated into “actions” by the Israeli side.

He added that Israel was working against peace.

The columnist criticised Washington for asking Arab nations to show more goodwill towards Israel and normalise their relations with the Jewish state, while the Arabs were the side that was respecting international resolutions and responding to peace efforts.

Meanwhile, an October 21 editorial on the opposition website Arraee.net said nothing was moving on all the regional issues, from the Arab Israeli conflict to the Iranian nuclear programme and the Islamic Republic’s role in the Middle East.

The website said that the region was still in a “transitional phase”. It said that the Syrian attitude during this phase consisted of “swinging” between its strong ties with Iran and the desire to open up to the international community.

The article complimented Saudi Arabia’s efforts to mend its relations with Damascus in order, it said, to weaken the Syrian Iranian alliance.
27-Oct-09]]> Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000 syr-bea76d84226e385d0a4e54b42e3eb7fe
Eyad Shurbaji, the editor-in-chief of Shabablek magazine, made the announcement at a recent event, according to the website.

In the past few months, several issues of the magazine were banned from being distributed on oral orders from the ministry of information.

The last banned issue included a report on media in Syria which criticised the ministry of information for the way it dealt with local publications.

The series of reports called “Print Media is Dying in Syria” covered censorship, information blackouts and the journalists’ union.

The private media have been subjected to restrictions by officials in the past few months, with editions of many newspapers and magazines forbidden from being distributed on the Syrian market.
27-Oct-09]]> Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000 syr-9b868e5a6d519c93b2becca39ffc211c
The report, which was drafted by the state’s planning commission to evaluate the first half of Syria’s latest five-year economic plan, said that the implementation of economic reforms had a “negative effect on incomes and expenditures”.

As an illustration, it said that the percentage of Syrians living under the line of “extreme poverty” has risen to more than 12 per cent and that the number of individuals living under the line of “general poverty” has also increased to around 34 per cent.

The report also criticised recent economic plans, arguing that the national economy today suffered from a poor environment for investments, the low productivity of the industrial sector and the low competitiveness of Syrian products on international markets.

The report said that public manufacturing facilities were facing difficulties because of the use of worn-out machines, high production costs, unskilled workers and the lack of investments. It added that on the other hand, the private industrial sector was developing.

The report also revealed that the problem of tap water pollution was increasing and no solution had been found. It added that the yearly share of every citizen of potable water has fallen under 747 cubic metres, which is way under the 1,000 cubic metres set as the standard water poverty line.

The agricultural sector was also facing challenges because of the reduction of cultivated area and the deterioration of the quality of land caused partly by climate change, it said.
27-Oct-09]]> Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000 syr-b4105d44b6125c0294e8f45b5b1b0cda
The Israel Defense Forces, IDF, and the US military began joint three-week exercises on October 22. Israel said the exercises were unrelated to any developments in the region.

In an October 25 op-ed article, author Malek Nator said that the military exercises proved that the presumed changes in Washington’s policy towards Israel were “senseless”.

He said the coalition between Israel and the US is getting stronger as a reaction to the fact that their shared enemies, Iran as well as Arab resistance forces spearheaded by Syria, were becoming “more potent and more active”.

The columnist blamed some Arab countries without naming them because, he said, they refrained from criticising or even commenting about the exercises.

He said that if Iran and Syria were to carry such manoeuvres, it would be frowned upon by the whole international community and Arab armies would be placed on alert.
27-Oct-09]]> Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000 syr-e9f9ed2bdc191d2e23c58840116d1db6
The organisation said that Abdulrahman al-Kuki was a guest on the October 20 episode of a programme called the “Opposite Direction” and broadcast by Al-Jazeera.

The show was about a recent controversy regarding the way the Islamic veil should be worn.

The committee said that security forces had searched the home of the cleric and confiscated his laptop.

It demanded his immediate release, asserting that the arrest was solely on the basis of his opinions and beliefs.

The website all4Syria said the same day that the reason behind the arrest of Kuki was that he criticised the Sheikh of the Azhar, considered to be one of the most prominent figures in Sunni Islam, during the programme.

The website quoted a source as saying that the Syrian minister for religious affairs, Muhammad Abdulsattar al-Sayed, had recently ordered clerics not to give interviews without his permission. It added that the minister was “not satisfied” with Kuki’s repeated appearances on Al-Jazeera TV.

It was not the first time that the authorities had arrested religious figures in Syria. In June, Dr Salah Keftaro, a leading cleric who heads the religious institution Abu al-Nour, was arrested and accused of having illegal relations with foreign parties in addition to practicing a profession without a licence and misappropriating public funds.

A month earlier, the prominent Syrian cleric, Sheikh Mahmoud Keftaro, was detained for 13 days by Syrian intelligence for allegedly establishing contacts with western embassies in Damascus.
27-Oct-09]]> Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000 syr-46889ea57b06e751cf654b10eaf9c90b
Maleh, 78, was arrested by the political security service on October14 and his whereabouts since then are unknown, the statement said.

The statement called for the unconditional release of Maleh, who spent more than 50 years of his life working as a judge and a lawyer. He was also imprisoned for six years in the 1980s for activities in the human rights field.

With other activists, Maleh established the Human Rights Association in Syria in 2001 and was the head of the organisation until 2006.

According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, two human rights advocates said that the reason for Maleh’s arrest was that he gave an interview to an opposition TV station based outside Syria where he criticised the authorities for limiting freedom of expression.

Meanwhile, lawyer and activist Muhanad al-Hassani was officially charged with “weakening national sentiment” and “propagating false statements”, said a statement issued on the same day by the Syrian Organisation for Human Rights and posted on Syrian websites.

The organisation condemned the decision as “unfair”, calling on the judiciary to reach a verdict that is not influenced by the security services.
22-Oct-09]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-e6169c288cb053791c6a3a5c2fedfbc4
The website said that Syria is worried that the partnership agreement would infringe the country’s political and economic sovereignty.

News agencies had quoted sources as saying the agreement was due to be signed on October 26 but the Kuwait News Agency has since reported a Brussels EU source as saying Syria was not ready to sign.

The Syrian website said that Damascus wanted to look carefully at the agreement to make sure that Europeans would not interfere in its economic decisions in the future, adding that the Syrians were advised by Algeria to be “careful” about the phrasing of the accord.

It added that Syrian officials were divided about the signing of the agreement, with some government members saying that the Syrian economy was capable of handling free trade with the EU while others were more cautious and argued that the private sector in Syria was not yet ready for it.

Some media reports said that Damascus was worried about some sections regarding human rights in the country.

The EU and Syria first agreed on a draft pact in 2004 but the ratification of the final agreement was delayed for political reasons and with some EU nations, the Netherlands in particular, demanding a clause allowing for its suspension in the event of rights abuses.
22-Oct-09]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-26f802db711aa34f394d544bf5cdc022
The attack killed at least 42 people, including commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a gathering. The Sunni rebel group Jundallah has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Asaad Aboud, the daily’s editor-in-chief, wrote that the incident constituted a serious threat to the country, which, he said, was pivotal for the stability of Asia and the Middle East.

He stressed that all nations, including those that have differences with Iran, must be aware of the importance of maintaining security in the Islamic Republic as a guarantee for the entire region.

The columnist said that Iran had overcome other challenges in the past, mainly the riots that followed the presidential elections in June, which, he said, were instigated by western powers.

Although Iran was not “fearful” of the aftermath of the attack, the challenge remained “substantial”, he added.
22-Oct-09]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-903256e3f75bb41a9faad988201d63a2
Shawkat Abu Fakher wrote that the recent positive changes in the world would allow Russia to play a broader role in the Middle East and use its good relations with world powers and the parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict to persuade them to resume the peace process.

He said that the Russians had supported peace in the region in the past and now that Moscow had “regained its role and influence” in the world, it should extend its clout to the region as well.

The columnist urged Russia to use its influence to force the “extremist” Israeli government to accept the peace conditions agreed upon by the international community.
22-Oct-09]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-8d2c977ab5a488b85423f1b94447678d
On October 16, the Geneva-based body approved the report, which accuses both sides in the conflict of committing war crimes, with 25 countries voting for and six nations, including the United States, rejecting it.

Asaad Aboud, editor-in-chief of the official newspaper al-Thawra, said in an October 18 editorial that the council’s validation of the report added to the body’s legitimacy as a guarantor of human rights.

Aboud added that the endorsement encouraged all people who were subjected to war crimes in the past to seek help from the UN body to take measures against the criminals.

An op-ed item in the state-run Tishreen daily published on the same day said that the Goldstone report “shook the foundations of Israel” and “scared” its leaders.

The article’s author, Ezeldin Darwish, added that the report was a lesson to all Arab nations that were afraid of confronting Israel and wanted to normalise relations with it.

He accused these nations of being defeatists and of being resigned to the belief that the Jewish state was all-powerful while in reality, he argued, Israel had been overpowered by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Palestinian group, Hamas.

A day earlier, in an op-ed piece in the same newspaper, Omar Jaftali welcomed the Human Rights Council’s decision but condemned western policies towards Arab causes.

He accused the United States of having double standards when it comes to Arab rights criticising the American delegation for what he described as its unbalanced speech at the council’s session discussing the Goldstone report.

In the same edition, Samira al-Masalma, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, called for the establishment of a “serious” plan of action to “punish all the criminals and killers” for their responsibility during the war in Gaza.
22-Oct-09]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-0c97df5ef74c414a408487df84743716
King Abdullah’s visit on October 7 was his first since he became the ruler of the Saudi kingdom in 2005. The visit was a sign of the improvement of ties between the two nations after years of soured relations, especially following the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

An October 8 op-ed article in the official Al-Baath newspaper said that Syrian-Saudi ties were a model of solidarity and respect of mutual interests that all Arab nations should follow.

Mohammad al-Khuder wrote that the talks between Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the Saudi ruler laid the foundation for joint Arab action in the region and for Arab nations to reclaim their rights and gain the respect of the international community.

The columnist concluded that disagreements among Arab nations should be contained because any political rift in the Arab world could have serious negative consequences on vital Arab issues, mainly the Palestinian cause.

The editor-in-chief of the state-run daily Al-Thawra wrote on the same day that Saudi Arabia and Syria were essential instigators for Arab countries to cooperate and ensure the stability and the security of the region.

Asaad Abboud said he hoped that the new phase of bilateral cooperation would help lead to peace, understanding, efficient regional politics and development.
He argued that Israel was the main beneficiary from disputes between Arabs.

Also on October 8, Waddah Abd Rabo, editor-in-chief of the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan, wrote that many countries tried to create rifts between Saudi Arabia and Syria but they failed thanks to “the determination and diplomacy” of the Syrian president who had always worked for Arab solidarity.

Earlier on October 7, Issa al-Ayoubi said in the same newspaper that the visit of King Abdullah proved to the world that there were no conflicts between Arab nations and Iran or Turkey but that the only rift in the region was between Arab states and the “Zionist entity”.

He said that the region was witnessing a new geopolitical phase.

Syrian businessmen and economists also welcomed the visit.

The pro-government website Syria Steps said on October 7 that the visit would boost economic relations between the two nations, especially as Saudi Arabia is considered to be the number one foreign investor in Syria.
15-Oct-09]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-07ab04bc666a631390c17bff4e6ac8c6
The Nobel committee awarded the prize to Obama on October 9 for creating a new climate of diplomacy in international politics. But many critics said that Obama had not yet achieved enough to merit the prize.

In an October 11 editorial, Asaad Abboud, the editor-in-chief of the official al-Thawra newspaper, congratulated Obama, adding that awarding him the prize was a promise for the future of the region which is awaiting peace, as well as a condemnation of US policies of the past.

He said that Damascus also deserved a peace prize for focusing on dialogue and diplomacy in the region.

An op-ed item in the same daily published the following day said that the reward aimed at pushing the president to work for universal peace more effectively and move from intentions to practice and concrete decisions.

Columnist Khalaf Ali al-Meftah said that Obama needed to prove his credibility by withdrawing forces from Iraq and Afghanistan and moderating military and political support for Israel to force the Jewish state to seek peace.

He added that Obama should use the prize to send a message to all the people who suffered from US-led wars and who expect security after years of “killing, pain and injustice”.

Also in the same daily, Mustafa al-Meqdad wrote on October 12 that he was happy the prize was offered to Obama although he was surprised by the decision.
He said that the award “offered a lot of optimism in a world burdened by wars, terrorism and violence”.

Maybe Obama can do something to help reduce violence in the world as the head of the most powerful country in the world, he said.
15-Oct-09]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-3749ded7ab87d0a49123a91aa9cfcbaa
The survey conducted by the Syrian Committee for Family Affairs showed that around 83 per cent of the 4,000 children interviewed were subjected to physical violence.

The magazine did not give the age range of the sample nor how the survey was conducted.

More than half of those children had been slapped, pulled by the ear, hit on the soles of the feet or kicked several times.

The study revealed that it was mainly the children’s parents who practiced violence against them starting with fathers, then brothers and mothers. Some teachers also adopted violent attitudes towards their students.

At least 46 per cent suffered from marks on their bodies and 18 per cent had been wounded and more than a third had bruises or swelling as a consequence of physical violence, the survey said.

It added that 83 per cent of the children were first subjected to violence at an early age.

Also, more than a quarter of the children surveyed were victims of sexual harassment, the study said.

Some children suffered from verbal abuse, being occasionally severely scolded, cursed or treated with contempt and disdain, it added.
15-Oct-09]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-557843ff2d6751e968143dad3630a3de
Syrian officials at the ministry of culture manage archaeological sites and deal with national and international archaeologists in ways that serve their own personal interests, Meqdad said.

He added that there was a need to recruit qualified and experienced professionals to develop projects around Syria’s archaeological sites.

As an example of the government’s mismanagement of ancient sites, the expert mentioned the southern city of Bosra, which boasts some of the country’s most important ruins.

He said that there have not been any serious excavations or discoveries in the city for years. He added that officials paved the old streets of the city with modern bricks instead of using the ancient tiles buried only one metre below the ground.

He said that many sites of historical importance in Syria were neglected because the authorities lack the interest or expertise to preserve them. Valuable ancient objects have been stolen recently or are not properly displayed to the public, he said.

He added that some archaeological sites had been declassified by the ministry of culture recently without giving a reason. Many critics say that the reason was to pave the way for the creation of projects on these sites.
15-Oct-09]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-fdb793243f4896468bc9cd5bd8068e23
The report concluded that war crimes had been committed by both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides. It was decided to put off its examination until March next year, which led to an outcry in a number of Arab nations, including Syria.

An October 9 article in the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan accused the Palestinian Authority of being partially responsible for “war crimes” committed in Gaza.

In his op-ed article, columnist Saleh al-Naame said that by accepting the delay in the examination of the report, Abbas proved that he had conspired with the Israelis against the resistance, a reference to the Palestinian group Hamas.

He said that Abbas was more interested in protecting his personal interests than those of the Palestinian people even if the cost was the killing, wounding or displacement of thousands of individuals.

An October 9 editorial in the pro-government newspaper Qasion described Abbas’s actions as “criminal” adding that he cooperated with the Israeli occupation at the expense of his own people ignoring their heroism, in a reference to Hamas.

The Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, are expected to sign a unity deal brokered by Egypt later this month. The Syrian government supports Hamas and hosts the group’s exiled leaders.
15-Oct-09]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-023281fff4d564fd6adb6b4a4964438b
The Syrian health ministry declared recently that up to the beginning of this month, there had been 56 cases of infection with H1N1 but denied rumours that the virus was spreading in schools.

Ali Hassoun wrote in an October 1 op-ed article in Baladuna that the measures taken on the borders and at Damascus airport to contain the virus were “silly”.

Hassoun, a columnist, said that the authorities’ only measure to spot people carrying the virus was a questionnaire to arriving passengers asking whether they had fever or not.

To show what he called officials’ lack of a sense of responsibility, the columnist told the story of his friends who went to a local centre to test whether they had the H1N1 virus after feeling they might have the symptoms of the disease.

He said that the centre’s employees only agreed to administer the test after they said they had been on a trip to Spain recently. The next day, they were told that they were healthy, he said. But hours later, the centre called them again to tell them that they had contracted the disease and needed to take medicine against it.

When they went to the hospital later that day to take the test again, they discovered that they had never been infected with the virus.
08-Oct-09]]> Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-d57ee7b3434dc0f61937579f18a315cc
Washington did not intend to implement any effective policies in the Middle East, he said, adding that this would leave a “worrying strategic vacuum” in the region.

Arab nations would be confronted with an uncertain future, he warned.

Hashem said that US president Barack Obama lacked the determination to solve the region’s problems, adding that pressure from lobby groups - a reference, mainly, to the Jewish lobby in the US - made him incapable of advancing the situation in the Middle East.

He argued that instabilities in the region continued, giving as examples the troubled situations in Iraq and Lebanon and the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The columnist concluded that the current situation should drive Arab states to unite without delay and come up with a joint policy for the region.
He said that Damascus wanted to stand up for other Arab states that he described as “trusted, appreciated and welcomed” by Syria. He was referring to Saudi Arabia, whose King Abdullah is expected to visit Damascus soon.
08-Oct-09]]> Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-5ddf873870173ea117b2969def89714a
A Syrian team of nature-loving volunteers has announced the clean-up campaign for the second year to save the 71-kilometre river, which is the main waterway passing through Damascus, the article said.

Issam Habbal, the team’s spokesman, told the website that the campaign would include activities in addition to cleaning, like a painting workshop for children, concerts and the distribution of plastic bags to encourage people not to litter the river.

The campaign will start on October 15 with a concert where songs for the river will be performed, he said.

Because of the exhaustion of water used for drinking purposes as well as drought, Barada river water levels have fallen in recent years, the website said.
It added that the river was polluted by sewage and littering.

08-Oct-09]]> Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-dcee5413318c9a77754b83b4c58b1fa2
Washington criticised the report for focusing on crimes committed by Israel and not drawing attention to the actions of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In an October 5 editorial, the daily’s editor-in-chief, Asaad Abboud, criticised Arab states and the Palestinian authority for agreeing that the UN human rights committee should postpone looking into the findings of the report until March.

The columnist said that the US “exploited the weakness and the state of confusion of the Palestinian authority” and influenced it to accept the delay.

In another editorial published the following day, Abboud accused Arab states of turning a blind eye to the report.
He said that while the Israeli prime minister launched an attack against the UN report, Arab nations remained mostly silent, which had contributed to “killing the report”. He said discussing it in March would make it “lose all its power and momentum”.
He considered that the decision to postpone looking into the report proved Israel’s international influence.
The writer called on the international community, Arab lobby groups, Islamic countries and non-aligned states to deploy their best efforts to push for the report to be discussed soon.

08-Oct-09]]> Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-e2a1b4a0434231d55c5c054a88c36ce6
In an unsigned October 4 article, the daily said that the US diplomat was also trying to prevent Lebanon from forming a national unity government.

Lebanese politicians have been trying unsuccessfully for months to create a government. Some accuse Syria of laying down obstacles to prevent the country from achieving political stability.

An unnamed Lebanese political source told the newspaper that the US wanted to maintain an unstable Lebanese political situation until it reached a compromise with Iran and Syria.

The daily also said that US officials were laying the groundwork for a final settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, and so were trying to prevent the formation of a Lebanese government that would oppose this goal.

It added that Syria and Saudi Arabia were against the US plan.

The newspaper concluded that the formation of a Lebanese government depended on whether the leader of the parliamentary majority, Saad Hariri, would go along with the opening between Saudi Arabia and Syria or listen to “extremist elements” in the country working against stability.
08-Oct-09]]> Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-837205d8db6abb0661071fdd155e629b
Asaad Aboud, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, said that western leaders should thank the Islamic Republic for agreeing to open its doors to inspectors and allowing them to look into its industrial nuclear sites.

Iran said on September 26 that it would allow inspectors into its newly disclosed uranium enrichment plant after the international community condemned Tehran for building the facility.

Aboud praised Iran’s decision to agree to partnerships with multinationals in running its nuclear plants, which, it said, were designed only for producing electricity.

He said it was the right of all nations to develop nuclear energy for civilian purposes and urged western powers to help all countries in this field.

The columnist said that preventing some nations from building a peaceful nuclear industry would drive these countries to resort to clandestine means.

Aboud criticised the West for turning a blind eye to Israel’s nuclear arsenal and said the international community should declare that no nation should own nuclear weapons.

He said that Syria faced pressure and accusations although it had never thought of manufacturing nuclear weapons.
01-Oct-09]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-e484758818832e6e926d7eb2eb9dca62
The daily quoted unnamed well-informed sources as saying that the visit of the Saudi sovereign would take place whenever the time was suitable for the leaders of the two countries and independently of a settlement to the political deadlock in Lebanon.

Lebanese media said recently that the Saudi king was expected to visit Damascus shortly following an official invitation by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who was attending the opening of a new state university in Saudi Arabia on September 24.

Lebanese politicians have been attempting for months without success to form a government of national unity. Many blame Syria in part for the political deadlock.

Al-Watan said that the expected visit of the Saudi ruler was aimed at strengthening relations between the two nations and discussing regional issues.

The newspaper said that the two countries believed that Lebanese internal issues should be managed by the Lebanese themselves without external interference.

In an op-ed article in the same issue of the daily, Ziad Abou Shawish said that the visit of Assad to Saudi Arabia was a significant initiative towards improving bilateral relations.

While Assad could have sent a delegation to represent him at the opening of King Abdullah University, he chose to take a step forward in the interest of Arab nations crippled with many regional problems, the columnist said.

He added that unity between Syria and Saudi Arabia was necessary for strengthening Arab solidarity and overcoming disagreements among Arab nations.

Meanwhile, the pro-government website Syrian Days quoted unnamed sources at the Syrian embassy in Saudi Arabia as saying that the number of Saudi tourists coming to Syria has fallen by 20 per cent this year compared to 2008.

The article said that many Saudis have stopped coming to the country because of false rumours published by some websites that Saudi tourists were being attacked in Syria.

The article explained that some Saudis were arrested in Syria because they frequented “suspicious places” and practiced “immoral acts”, a reference to sex tourism.
01-Oct-09]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-0980192d385985bc26e1ea50c3f2917a It quoted the Syrian health ministry as saying the country has 450 AIDS patients.

But a doctor who requested anonymity told the website that the real number of HIV positive individuals exceeded 1,500 and he said there were many undiscovered cases of people with the disease.

The doctor linked the increase in the numbers of infections to factors such as unsafe sexual practices among young people, drug use as well as unemployment, late marriages and population migration.

The website urged the health ministry to make HIV tests compulsory for couples intending to marry. Currently, only Syrian women about to marry foreign nationals have to undergo the test, Rowa Horania, an official at the department of health education in the health ministry, told the website.

Horania said that it would be difficult to require HIV tests from couples wishing to marry because of the relatively high cost of 30 US dollars.

The article reported that police have arrested 40 women prostitutes working in the countryside around Damascus who were HIV positive.

The website Syria Steps also reported a link between the rise in prostitution and the increase in AIDS cases in the country.

In a September 27 article, the website said that prostitution had increased in Syria in recent years because following the US invasion of Iraq, many Iraqi women had come to the country and started working in this field.

It added that prostitutes also originated from other areas such as Morocco, eastern Europe, Russia and Somalia as well as Syria.

The website urged the government to monitor prostitution more closely and give accurate figures of HIV infections in the country.
01-Oct-09]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-848ef68148c6099aa19e60a9fcc49bb4
A member of the Syrian team negotiating with the EU over the economic accord downplayed recent media reports that the bilateral agreement would be signed in the near future, the website said.

Syrian media earlier this month quoted European diplomatic sources as saying that the EU was considering the ratification of the agreement in October, nine months after the initial signing of a draft agreement.

But the unnamed source told the website that the removal of political obstacles that have obstructed negotiations in the past did not automatically mean that the agreement would be signed soon.

He said that discussions over the export of some Syrian agricultural products, especially olive oil, were a long way from completion.

The official said that the national negotiating team was still in the process of preparing documents on Syrian agricultural products and meetings with the European side to discuss the issue have not yet been arranged.

He stressed that the Syrian team would push for the agreement to benefit the country’s economy in the best way possible.

Technical negotiations on the agreement were concluded in October 2004. However, the EU delayed the signing following the assassination in February 2005 of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, which was widely blamed on Syria.

Some European countries, like the Netherlands, still oppose the signing of the agreement with Damascus because of the country’s poor human rights record.
01-Oct-09]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-cfa5923a623a4b4cc9ac6e2fd3cc13ce
The London-based organisation, which has ties to the banned Syrian Muslim Brotherhood party, said that during the last week of the Muslim month of Ramadan, the military secret services interrogated many prominent personalities from the cultural and social elite of Aleppo as well as businessmen known for their charity work.

The group said that some of the individuals summoned by authorities were members of the city council of Aleppo or heads of licensed charity organisations, naming among others, Ibrahim al-Tayeh, a physician, Mahmoud Azeza, a dentist, and Waddah Bawadeqgi, a businessman.

It said that the questioning lasted for many hours, adding that authorities confiscated large numbers of books, computers and CDs from the homes of these prominent figures.

The organisation did not give the reason behind the interrogations.

In an earlier statement posted on September 21, the organisation said that the citizens of Hama, in the centre of the country, were complaining about “harsh and unjustified treatment” administered by the head of the city’s intelligence service, Brigadier Mohammed al-Muflih.

Many citizens of Hama, including men, women and elderly people, have expressed anger at being badly treated by security forces, said the statement.

It reported that Syrian expatriates on vacation in Hama were ill treated and arrested for no apparent reasons by security forces on the orders of the local intelligence bureau.

These arbitrary measures have caused many of them to lose their jobs abroad because they had failed to receive permits to leave the country on time, it said.

Hama’s citizens complained that the harsh policies of security officials caused “apprehension and tension” and harmed the “national harmony of the city”.
01-Oct-09]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 syr-f316d1ba691d6e09e0516461c687fcac