The Regime Strikes Back
Al-Farabi heard rumors that Syrian intelligence shut down a broadcasting network. He refrained from mentioning anything on Dispatch because they were unverified. All for Syria now is reporting the takeover (excuse the poor grammar):
“A patrol from Syrian Securities ( state intelligence) closed this morning the office of almashreq satellite channel in Damascus. they took all the employees to the security office for investigation and force them to sign a paper said that they will not work in the future with almashreq satellite ! , among who signed the office manager jamil sammaq , production manager Mouhammad aljindi , Anchor souher aldahabi , presenter Maria shehada & Amal shahin. the move came after a tensed week in which the owner of almashreq ( Ghassan abboud) issued a statement against the bureaucracy and corruption he faced during his work to get the permission to operate in Syria.”
This seems to be just a single event reprimanding individuals who were critical of the regime, and unlikely that it signals a broad crackdown of any sort. Nevertheless, Al-Farabi will continue to monitor developments as best he can.
