The Syria Times Online, 5 Years On!
A brief review of the Syria Times Online: www.syriatimes.sy , relaunched On October 6, 2012, and of President Bashar Al-Assad unofficial Website: www.presidentassad.net, launched in 2007- as a personal dedication by Dr. Mohamad Abdo Al-Ibrahim- necessitates indeed at least, given the millions of clicks and visits from around the globe, a one-year thorough reading for what has been stated by H.E. President Bashar Al-Assad, considered by many as, not only the defender, protector and most popular humanitarian world leader, but too as the second to none observer, analyst and strategist president journalist, especially when it comes to foreign mainstream media language, discourse and dubious goals!
"Pictures cannot tell you the story, even videos, everything could be manipulated these days. I wouldn’t say that there are no such attacks on any building, but as a government, we don’t have a policy to destroy hospitals or schools or any such facility for a simple reason: first of all, morally, the second reason is that if we do so, we are offering the militants the incubator, the social incubator that they’ve been looking for, it’s going to be a gift, something we wouldn’t do because it’s against our interests. It’s like shooting ourselves in the foot," stated President Assad in his Danish TV2 Interview, October 6, 2016.
"You cannot build your political position or stand, let’s say, according to a video promoted by the terrorists or their supporters. It’s a game now, a game of propaganda, it’s a game of media. You can see anything, and you can be sympathetic with every picture and every video you see. But our mission as a government is to deal with the reality…They’ve been in that area for years now, but we only heard about that “dire situation” in the media recently, in the Western media, because the situation of the terrorists is very bad." Outlined H.E. President Assad to the Danish TV2.
"Our, let’s say, media are not disconnected from what’s going on, but you need again to have the balance between how much you need to have close-to-natural life, not completely normal life…So you need this balance. Of course you have many different points of view regarding the media, because media is about the perception, and what you are saying," added President Assad to Russian Komsomolskaya Pravda Interview, October 13, 2016.
"Electronic media played an important role at that time despite the fact that it wasn’t media in the traditional sense. It was through the social media. At the beginning of the crisis, at a time when everybody was trying to constrain these media in other countries, we opened them completely and achieved good results," said President Assad in his Al-Watan Daily Interview, December 7, 2016.
"If we look at the Syrian media in general, and I can talk more about the official media since I am a state official, we need to take into account that this media cannot be like private media. Private media remain freer throughout the world. And it is natural for the official media to adopt the state’s views, as in all countries of the world. But I can say that there are objective factors which prevented the media from development like the sanctions imposed on them, preventing them from airing on satellites, etc. And there are non-objective factors related to the existing mentality. The media have a long development process, and the mentality existing in media institutions and concerned with developing the Syrian media discourse was not able to cope with this situation. They made a shift, but it wasn’t sufficient; for the war needed a larger shift. In addition, there was the bureaucratic nature to which the official media are linked and which allow sometimes many other non-media institutions to interfere in their work and consequently impede any development process. What we are doing now is cleaning up the media establishment. This is one of the tasks of the new government in the field of the media, particularly the Ministry of Information. It is a process of cleaning up media institutions of corruption and apathy. With these two conditions, the media cannot develop, for the media discourse cannot develop only with a mental condition, it needs an administrative condition. This is the first step, and the Ministry of Information has started these steps. Afterwards, we need to have an administrative conception of these institutions. Then developing the media discourse will be the natural result which we will see in the official media. For you, in the non-official media, you are free, and you have made significant strides and played an important role in this war," added President Assad in his Al-Watan Daily Interview, December 7, 2016.
"Secondly, I used to distinguish precisely since the first days between the fake campaign and reality. Many were probably unable to do so, and the virtual reality created by the foreign media and the proxy Arab media impacted many Syrians. I personally dealt with reality alone from the beginning and was not influenced by this condition," underscored President Assad in his Al-Watan Daily Interview, December 7, 2016.
President Assad, in statements to French Media, January 8, 2017, stated: "So, for the French people, I would say the mainstream media has failed in most of the West. The narrative has been debunked because of the reality, and you have the alternative media, you have to look for the truth. The truth was the main victim of the events in the Middle East, including Syria. I would ask any citizen in France to search for the reality, for the real information, through the alternative media. When they search for this information, they can be more effective in dealing with their government, or at least not allowing some politicians to base their politics on lies. That’s what we think is the most important thing during the last six years."
In his April 6, 2017 interview with the Croatian Newspaper Vecernji List, H.E. President Assad thanked the social media as " it has become difficult for the corporate media linked to the political machines in the West to control the ins and outs of information and data throughout the world."
"So, the numbers that we’ve been hearing in the Western media during the last six years were not precise, it’s only to inflate the number just to show how horrible the situation, to use it as humanitarian pretext to intervene in Syria," added President Assad in his Russian RIA Novosti and Sputnik Interview, April 21, 2017.
"From a Western perspective, you are now sitting with the devil. This is how they market it in the West. But this is always the case when a state, a government, or an individual do not subjugate themselves to their interests, and do not work for their interests against the interests of their people. These have been the Western colonial demands throughout history. They say that this evil person is killing the good people. Okay, if he is killing the good people, who have been supporting him for the past six years? Neither Russia, nor Iran, nor any friendly state can support an individual at the expense of the people. This is impossible. If he is killing the people, how come the people support him? This is the contradictory Western narrative; and that’s why we shouldn’t waste our time on Western narratives because they have been full of lies throughout history, and not something new," stated President Assad in reply to a question by the Venezuelan Telesur TV, April 27, 2017.
"This is the West, and we should not pay any attention to what they say. What’s important is the relationship between the official and the people of his country, not with Western media or Western officials. I’m not concerned with what they say about me, negatively or positively. A few years before the war, they used to speak positively about me. At that time, I did not care because I don’t trust them. I know them very well. They are hypocrites, and this is the truth," added H.E. President Assad to the Belarus ONT Channel, May 11, 2017.
"I don’t think the battle is the president’s battle as the Western media tries to portray. It’s not my battle, I’m not fighting for my position, I don’t care about that position; I only care about the public support. So, for us as Syrians, it’s a national war, everybody is fighting for his country, not for the president. This is the secret, maybe, that the West didn’t discover, because they were too superficial to analyze the situation in Syria. So, actually, it’s not a secret; it’s something they didn’t see, but it’s not a secret." Reiterated President Assad to the Indian Wion TV , June 3, 2017.
With this in mind, the Syria Times E-Newspaper, presidentassad.net publishes some of the interactive messages sent for syriatimes.sy and for presidentassad.net, and received since the Syria Times last year's re-launching anniversary:
"Dear Mr. President Bashrar Al Assad
I am an Italian working now in Qatar and I wish to express all my compliment to you, to your brave soldiers and to your wonderful family because, from the web sited I read, it seems that the Syrian population is taking back is Country.
I really hope that all is true, I wish to express my gratitude to you and my deeply apologizing as a western, as Italian, I really hope that one day you will forgive countries like Italy that did not support you and keep a passive attitude during the days when Syria was attacked by the criminals that our press described as "fighters for the freedom".
I hope one day I will have the chance to come and see your wonderful Country but more than this I really wish Syria will get back Golan from the criminal Zionist that are the cancer of the humanity.
Long life to you, your family and to Syria
Federico Plumbo
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With my most sincere and most heartfelt condolences
Hello
Please accept the most fraternal salutes from depth of my heart. I am humbled to write this letter for Syrian friends. I extend my most sincere and most heartfelt sympathies to you on the demise and injury of noble Syrians in the heinous disgusting terrorist attacks during tragic years of heinous horrible civil war in Syria which caused one of the worst human crises in the world history. I hope the injured citizens of the heinous disgusting terrorist attacks in Syria will wholly recover soon. I request the noble relatives and noble dependents of decedent citizens to accept my most sincere and most heartfelt condolences on their demise. I pledge my strong and firm solidarity with noble people of the Great Syria against extremism, terrorism, violence, crime and the abhorrent entity and heinous disgusting crimes of terrorist groups especially ISIL. I strongly condemn extremism, terrorism, violence, crime and the abhorrent entity and heinous disgusting crimes of terrorist groups especially ISIL. Particularly, I strongly condemn all heinous and disgusting terrorist attacks during tragic years of heinous horrible civil war in Syria.
Please accept my most sincere and most heartfelt condolences to the Great and noble Syrian nation on the demise of noble Syrians in the heinous disgusting terrorist attacks during tragic years of heinous horrible war against Syria. The heinous and disgusting terrorist attacks during tragic years of heinous horrible war in Syria caused intense, deep and public sense of sorrow, sadness and grief among people of global community. Also, the heinous and disgusting terrorist attacks during tragic years of heinous horrible war in Syria caused great, powerful and public sense of anger among people of the world community against extremism, terrorism, violence, crime and the abhorrent entity and heinous disgusting crimes of terrorist groups especially ISIL.
The Great Syria is a very important, prominently powerful, internationally eulogized and immensely capable noble nation who possesses an inherently rich, very successful and brightly Glorious history. Also, the Great and noble Syrian nation possesses a very rich, fruitfully constructive and immensely productive culture. Certainly, the Great Syrian nation will completely destroy terrorism in Syria and will desirably and successfully reach and safeguard sustainable peace and stable security in the Great Syria, that require patriotic instrumental cooperation between different parts of noble Syrian society, powerful national consensus on the very valuable domestic interests of noble Syrian nation and helpful firm relationships with prominent members of global community. Also and with necessary, continual, adequate and efficient global aids in various financial and material fields, noble Syrian nation will absolutely and awesomely reconstruct the Great Syria in a very successful manner. I hope all the very best for noble people of the Great Syria.
Thank you for your attention and thank you very much for reading my letter
Best regards
Your friend and brother
Vahid Mahdavi
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"H.E. President Bashar Al-Assad is highly educated with matchless politeness and capacity to analyze and evaluate stances. President Assad leaves his place inside his office and stands in waiting and warmly welcomes his guests, be they officials, journalists or citizens. President Assad's welcome words leave no barriers as to make any guest more convinced with the justice of his stances on the criminal war launched against Syria by the forces of darkness, backed by US, Zionist and European sides. Victory is definitely for President Assad, God Willing, and defeat is for his enemies."
Mohammed Elfawal, Egyptian renowned journalist, August, 2017.
"The way this man-H.E. President Bashar Al-Assad- held his country together in spite of all the outside efforts to destroy it by turning it into a redux of Iraq and Libya is amazing."
Adrian Médecins Sans Frontières, August 2017.
"H.E. President Bashar Al-Assad is steadfast and steady and he establishes crystal clear alliances over as under the table. To H.E. President Assad the hat should be lifted."
Tunisian parliamentary delegation led by MP Mbarka Brahimi, August 15, 2017
"Great Young Hafiz Al Assad God bless him and protect him from All Evil. Hope his Parents will enjoy him at All times."
Danial Issa
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London
"It took a tremendous amount of courage from the Valuable and Esteemed President Bashar Al-Assad, to resist the Anglo-American Barbaric Murderers, who have used the most vile, perfidious , monstrous and cunning ways to overthrow him. They have been flooding the world with war crimes, wherever their Cowardice could assassinate State Leaders and their entire populations without fearing any kind of Retaliation, as they only attack defenseless Nations, much weaker than they are in military power, and therefore unable to respond. Never have they fought a loyal fight where powers in presence were equivalent. Remember Irak, Remember Libya, Remember North Korea. Remember Yemen. Always the coward way, always far from their own well preserved homeland, always massacring entire populations, hospitals, children, innocent victims of their appalling State Terrorism. They have done that in Syria. But President Bashar Al Assad is a man of Honor and Duty. He is a Patriot who loves very dearly his people and will defend them until his dying breath. How many Statesmen would have endured so much for the love of their people ? Many other Presidents have flown away from their country to live happily in some golden exile, precisely by lack of love towards their people."
July 2017