Syria News Wire

Water shortages are a problem for the whole region. Syria has had posters up for years telling people that ‘water is life’. But still, shopkeepers empty entire bottles on to the pavement to clean their street.

Now, even the private sector is realising the scale of the problem. Radio station Farah FM has started including the slogan ‘water is life – so look after it’ in its posters.

But although water needs to be preserved, it also needs to be available. The sabils are centuries-old water fountains dotted around the Old City. This month, the Syrian Environment Association, Maktab Anbar (which looks after the restoration of the Old City), plus the French Cultural Centre and the German Technical Development Organisation held a ‘week of sabils’.

They set up tours of the Old City’s sabils, and even renovated some of them. Many people just walk by these places, letting them fall into disrepair, but these pictures above show the Sabil Al-Ward in Saroujah coming back to life.

Sabils continue to play a part in this water-hungry country, with many shops putting water fountains outside their doors.

Walk past Tishreen Park any night this summer and you are likely to see families walking out with their arms full of plants. No, they haven’t been stealing from the park, this is the annual International Flower Show.

Dozens of countries have got stands at the top end of Tishreen – and one of the most popular is the Iraqi one.

The Baghdad Municipality has brought some of the city’s most symbolic flowers into this cool hilly part of western Damascus. Families with Iraqi accents are pushing to get inside and have their photos taken and remember home.

As I walked away, a father and his son started going in the same direction. “This is our country,” he said to his son, pointing at the display. “Our country is beautiful isn’t it.”

The sweet sounds of Rasha Rizk played out across Tishreen Park on another hot Damascene summer night last week.

Rasha Rizk is the lead singer of a young Syrian duet called Itar Shameh – a guitar-based Arab rock/jazz couple. But this is no ordinary duo – Rasha is married to her co-star Ibrahim Suleimany.

They launched their first album, Baitna, in Mustafa Ali’s gallery two years ago, and last Thursday they played songs from the record. But it didn’t all go according to plan. After a one and a half hour delay, they started their first song to riotious applause and cheers – and then there was a power cut.

Minutes later they were back on stage and sung into the evening.

There are more concerts throughout the summer in Tishreen Park – the hghlight is this Thursday, when Lena Chamamyan is performing.

Syriatel has denied a takeover by Zain or Turkcell.

It comes after rumours that the company had sold shares to one of the companies. There has been speculation for years that the two regional giants would want to enter the Syrian market – either by winning the third license, or by taking over MTN or Syriatel.

For some reason, I have been submitting empty posts for the past couple of days. I have sorted it out, and I am now reposting everything again.

America is finally sending an Ambassador to Syria after a four year delay.

Its previous representative was pulled out of the country days after
Rafiq Al-Hariri was killed, as the US sought to blame Damascus.

The State Department says a new ambassador will be sent to Syria – it
has implied similar things since Barack Obama became president. But
the US still has not named their new representative, meaning there is
likely to be a delay until the US-Syria relationship gets fully back
on track.

An earthquake measuring 4.6 has struck Aleppo, although there are no reports of injuries or any damage.

It happened at 7.30 this morning. With a number of badly constructed buildings in the city, it is very lucky that no-one was hurt, and no properties collapsed.

Ahmad was the first to mention the quake on Twitter – a number of residents said they felt the strong shock.

There is a battle going on, over at Wikipedia, over the use of the word “occupied”. You can help.

Some fans of Israel seem to think it is acceptable to call the Syrian Golan Heights – which have been occupied by the Israeli army since 1967 – as merely “disputed territory”.

There is no “dispute”, it is accepted under international law, and global public opinion – and even by some Israeli politicians – that the land is Syrian, and will have to be handed back under any Israel-Syria peace treaty.

I changed the terminology from “disputed” to “occupied”, and got caught up in an edit-war. That has forced a discussion, where users can finally settle on a word to describe the Golan.

THIS IS HOW YOU CAN HELP

First – re-post this on your blog.

Second – go to this page, and scroll down to the bottom. Paste this in: *”’Reply to RFC”’ (including the ” ” ) and then have your say – occupied or disputed?

At the end of the consultation, the majority opinion wins! Simple.

This may seem like a waste of time to you, but it is an important war of words. Anyone looking for an appropriate way to describe the land is likely to turn to Wikipedia. Don’t let them find that it is acceptable to call it “disputed” territory.

Damascus Airport has finally included departure tax into ticket prices, as of today.

It means most passengers (starting with Syrianair) will no longer be hit by the 1500L surprise at the airport. Instead, tickets sold in Syria and abroad are all increasing by $30.

The departure stamp is a major cause of frustration, with many passengers forgetting to buy it, or being held in the queue for far too long. This change brings Syria in line with most countries, which charge tax at the point of purchase.

It also makes the system far more transparent – you know how much your journey costs when you book it, not when you arrive at the airport.

On a return flight from Damascus to London, you will now pay $150 UK tax and $30 Syrian tax.

(Passengers who bought tickets before today may still have to buy the stamp at the airport.)

The top US commander has praised Syria for cutting the number of foreign fighters crossing from Syria into Iraq.

General Ray Odierno said although they had seen some militants coming over the border, the number has fallen over the past 8 to 10 months. He didn’t say by how much.

The issue is one of the biggest problems in the US-Syria relationship.