Dialogue session on media war on Syria within the joint Syrian-Russian meeting program

A dialogue session entitled “Syria in the Media War… How to Win the War and Strengthen Peace, Stability and Development” was held on Wednesday at the Conferences Palace in Damascus as part of the joint Syrian-Russian meeting program to follow up on the work of the international conference on the return of refugees.

In a speech during the dialogue session, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Dr. Faisal Al-Miqdad, affirmed that the Western countries aimed at changing the political and geographical reality in the region or the so-called Middle East. The Western media paid billions of dollars on misinformation to kill the Syrian people and destroy their achievements.

Minister Al-Miqdad noted  that the war began with many lies and destroyed many human, political and social structures in the Arab countries, indicating that the West had recruited thousands of terrorists to destroy Syria with the aim of changing its political positions, but they were unable to do so.

 

Minister Al-Miqdad indicated that there is a document issued and closely followed up by the American and international media during the past few days related to the war crime committed by the United States in eastern Syria in 2016, which it could not hide or stop. It revealed that at least 80 Syrian citizens were killed within minutes as a result of bombing a gathering of people.

On the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Syria and its people, the Minister of Foreign Affairs affirmed that there are Syrian, Lebanese and Arab citizens who were killed as a result of these sanctions, which they justify in the media as being for putting pressure on the Syrian state, which is resisting and defending its sovereignty and its people, knowing that the citizens are affected by it.

Al-Miqdad indicated that the Western media lied a lot about the identity of those who fought the war against Syria, and they are in the tens of thousands, almost all of them came from European and other countries and with Western funding. He  pointed out that the BBC admitted a month ago that what was paid by the British government for media propaganda campaigns only against Syria during the first years of the war on Syria, was about 4 billion dollars. But what was used to misinform the media against Syria after that stage is much more than that to kill the Syrian people and destroy their achievements.

In his speech during the session, Alexander Lavrentiev, Special Envoy of President Vladimir Putin to Syria, underlined  the importance of continuing to fight terrorist organizations, especially those in Idlib, and obligating Turkey, which bears responsibility for terrorist attacks there, to implement its obligations under the agreements concluded with it. He  indicated that the priority is to continue the war against ISIS in eastern Syria.

Lavrentiev stressed his country’s quest to open the eyes of the international community about the reality of what is happening in Syria and support it in the face of the aggressive organized media campaign and to prove the credibility of the legitimate Syrian government. He considered that settling the situation of thousands of Syrians in the southern regions is a great achievement and a positive example that can be applied in other places.

The Special Envoy pointed out that the situation in Syria is still difficult financially and economically, and the main obstacle is the illegal sanctions imposed on it by the United States and the European Union. He asserted that some parties, including the United States, say that the policy of the United States to strangle Syria economically has not been achieved, but rather affected Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan due to this economic and political crisis.

Lavrentiev clarified that there are a number of projects aimed at reconstruction in Syria, which will contribute to stabilizing the economic and social situation in Syria, indicating that his country focused attention during its meetings about a year ago on the need for the return of Syrian refugees and displaced persons to their country and the creation of appropriate conditions for that.

Lavrentiev praised the efforts of the Syrian government to achieve a political settlement of the crisis, such as successive reforms in various fields, stressing his country’s continuation of active cooperation with Syria in the financial and economic fields to overcome social difficulties and to discuss ways of a peaceful settlement of the crisis with the aim of preserving Syria’s independence, sovereignty and national unity. There are also Russian-Syrian intensive efforts within the framework of discussions related to the committee to discuss the constitution in Geneva.

“With regard to the repeated, illegal aggression against the Syrians, which causes material and human casualties, we stress the need for the Israeli entity to respect the sovereignty of the Syrian state and the inadmissibility of repeating its aggression on its lands,” Lavrentiev added.

In turn, the Minister of Local Administration and Environment, Eng. Hussein Makhlouf, stated that the Syrian media found itself about 11 years ago in the depths of a very cruel war and did not hesitate for a moment during these years of waging it. So  the media workers were at the forefront of those fighting this war behind the military establishment.

The Minister of Local Administration highlighted the role of the media in the intellectual field in terms of correcting misconceptions and rebuilding societal thought on a more solid ethical and national basis.

For his part, Minister of Information, Dr. Boutros Al-Hallaq, stated in his speech that the refugee issue is a humanitarian issue that has been transformed into a political bargaining chip and invested by many media outlets whose positions have changed and varied a lot.  But Syria will triumph over the unjust economic siege imposed on it.  It works to promote and generalize a culture of dialogue to reach a comprehensive solution to the crisis.

Minister Al-Hallaq explained that social networking played a pivotal role in media misinformation by marketing the uncontrolled use of expressing ideas and opinions in a way that sometimes calls for violence and hatred and inciting public opinion against the policies followed in Syria. This had negative effects on society in the ten years.

The Minister of Information pointed out that the hostile media broadcast a lot of crying, wailing and anxiety over the displaced Syrians, and portrayed that they fled from the Syrian government, but these same media never dared to tell the truth about the West’s manufacture of terrorism and terrorists who invaded Syrian villages and cities and left behind a humanitarian crisis and destruction of infrastructure and depriving the people of even the most basic needs of life.

The Minister of Information praised the role of the Syrian media cadres in thwarting the hostile media project and imposing a national media project that was able to clarify the truth of what is happening in Syria and its victories that are being completed in the face of the economic blockade. The national media was a partner of the Syrian Arab Army in its war against terrorism and is determined to be active in the process of stability and development through a media policy that focuses on development priorities, urgent information for society, and the promotion and dissemination of a culture of dialogue in order to fortify public opinion.

For her part, the Special Adviser to the Presidency of the Republic, Dr. Buthaina Shaaban, stressed the importance of Syrian-Russian cooperation not only in the political and economic fields, but also in the cultural and humanitarian fields as well as at all levels.

Dr. Shaaban pointed out that the funding and effort devoted to the media war is equivalent to what was allocated to the military war, and that the Western media is a systematically funded and established media, therefore it is able to make its story spread all over the world. She underlined the importance of the Syrian national media marketing Syrian ideas and opinions similar to the Russian and Chinese experience in the mechanism of their orientation towards the global media.

Dr. Shaaban pointed to the importance of confronting the Western media by preparing clear, specific and purposeful media work mechanisms. She  indicated that what Syria had fought in the issue of chemical weapons, in close cooperation with Russian friends, proved that it is capable of creating loopholes in the Western media and undermining the lies it promotes. BBC has retreated about articles it  promoted and its description of the “White Helmets” organization in more than one field.

Dr. Shaaban pointed out that the West did not talk about the Syrian victory because it wants to turn a blind eye to this victory, and it is difficult for them to admit that it failed as part of a face-saving tactic.

Representative of the Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East to the Patriarchate of Moscow and All Russia Igomin Arseniy Sokolov referred to the historical Christian churches that were destroyed as a result of terrorism and his country’s efforts to restore them, especially churches in the regions of Arbin and Zabadani, indicating that some Western countries claim to defend Christianity.

Sokolov affirmed that his country, through the church, provides medical aid to some hospitals in Syria and aid to orphans, and there is a Russian charitable society that supports the people of Daraya, pointing to the difficulty of delivering financial aid to Syria due to the unilateral coercive measures imposed on it.

For his part, the First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, Industry, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship in the State Duma, Vladimir Gutniov, described his country’s relations with Syria as distinguished and covering all areas of cooperation, pointing out his country’s keenness on the reconstruction of Syria and the continuation of cooperation in the field of education.

Gutniov pointed out that returning the economy to normal in Syria requires great efforts, and that the Russian and Syrian sides are in the process of establishing a joint institution to modernize infrastructure. The two sides signed an agreement in the field of higher education, and there are great prospects for the settlement of industrial production in Syria.

In her turn, Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Council at the Counter-Terrorism Center of the Commonwealth of Independent States in the Russian Federation, Mariana Kochobe, referred to the efforts made by the two sides to protect civilians in Syria from the threat of terrorism, indicating the danger of social policies pursued by countries that support terrorism to sabotage the social structure in a country in order to spread chaos.

A member of the Foundation for the Support of Russian Democracy Maxim Grigoriev indicated that members of the Foundation visited Syria for the first time in 2012 and collected information for about a year and had an independent assessment of what is happening in the country. The initiative undertaken by the Foundation exposed the accusations against Syria about allegations of the use of chemical weapons. He  pointed out to disseminating that information on a large scale of the institution via recognized international platforms in various countries of the world.

Grigoriev indicated that an important part of our work was the detection of the White Helmets, noting that based on the testimony of former members of the organization, we proved that its branches were part of terrorist organizations and that its employees often participated in hostilities.

Grigoriev affirmed that the Foundation is currently collecting evidence of crimes by states in Syria and collecting testimonies from more than 200 Syrian citizens affected by the attacks launched by the US-led coalition. He noted that US forces are still occupying part of Syria in violation of international law and illegally exploiting the country’s oil wealth.  It bombs, kills and tortures Syrian citizens, and destroys safe civilian homes and infrastructure.

He added that the actions of the US-led coalition in Syria violated the basic principles of international law, and in accordance with those principles, these violations are classified as war crimes. Our findings unequivocally prove that the coalition has systematically targeted and attacked hospitals, schools, markets, mosques, civilian homes and ambulances.

Regarding the Rukban camp, Grigoriev said that through the testimonies collected from civilians, the United States used various extremist groups to run the camp, as it trained and provided them with weapons and ammunition.

The session included a number of dialogues between the participants about the media mechanisms to be taken to confront the war of misinformation and the continuous lies from the Western media and ways to advance the development process for the  reconstruction of what terrorism has destroyed and the achievement of comprehensive development and stability.

In a statement to reporters after the session, Dr. Shaaban confirmed that the West devoted enormous resources to promoting media lies, considering that one of the most important outcomes of the Conference on the Return of Refugees is the interaction between Syria and Russia in various fields.

Dr. Shaaban indicated that there will be subsequent conferences to upgrade the bilateral relationship in all economic, cultural, artistic and service sectors. 

 

Inas Abdulkareem