Syria News Wire

It has taken years for our bickering Arab rulers to realise it, but uniting our region benefits us all. Europe is the model for every economic union in the world. The EU is the most deeply integrated region on earth, with a highly developed political, social and economic system. The Gulf has done pretty well, [...]

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Syria has stopped issuing visas to US citizens at its border crossings. Official policy has always been easy to understand: if there is a Syrian embassy in your home country, then you can not get a visa at the border. Yet many took a risk and set out on the Beirut-Damascus journey without a visa. [...]

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Another Israeli land-grab advert has been banned by authorities in the UK. The poster claims East Jerusalem is part of Israel – something which the UN, the UK and even the US rejects. East Jerusalem is part of the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority said that “The status of the occupied territory [...]

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It’s the weekend, so it must be time for the travel features to be wheeled out. And as usual, when one Syria piece comes out, the rest follow. This time Britain’s Daily Mail and the New Zealand Herald are the hosts. Surprisingly, the DM does the better job. I say surprisingly because it’s one of [...]

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It’s official: Syria is one of the travel hotspots for 2010. The New York Times puts Damascus at number 7. The paragraph sells the Syrian capital on the basis of its boutique hotels (really, is that the best you can come up with?), and was written by former Global Post Beirut correspondent Don Duncan (I’m [...]

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Following the failed bomb attack on a US-bound plane, America has imposed tough new security measures. Tough new security measures to add to the tough new security measures imposed after 9/11. Except that these tough new security measures only apply to some individuals. People who carry passports issued in: Syria, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Nigeria, Afghanistan, [...]

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Two minibuses have crashed head-on near Aleppo, killing two people and injuring nine. The collision happened on Saturday night on the road between Aleppo and Afrin. One of the buses was heading towards Aleppo, the other one was travelling in the opposite direction. A police officer says the buses were speeding. Nine people are still [...]

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Damascus really is the new black. The hotels are filling up, flights are packed. But there is one massive downside: bad travel writing. Journalists and travel writers (there is a big difference) are flocking to ‘discover’ Syria. And nearly every single one of them feels the need to use tired and worn cliches referring to [...]

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Syria is in the newspapers, it’s on the TV, it’s in the bookshops. Listen up Europeans, Damascus is the hot new weekend getaway. There has been a fifty per cent rise in package holidays from Europe over the past few years. The total number (which includes Arab tourists) was 1 million in 2001, with an [...]

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Syria has a terrible history of road accidents (like this and this). Now it looks like the crackdown has finally begun. Speeding is one of the biggest causes of crashes, so speed cameras have been installed on highways in Aleppo and now Damascus too. It follows the enforcement of the seatbelt laws – drivers and [...]

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