The Al-Sham News Agency of the Syrian Salvation Government, the civilian arm of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, announced that the General Shura Council approved on Thursday the ministerial portfolios of the Salvation Government in its sixth session, including the Ministry of Information for the first time, and appointed Mohammed al-Omar as the new Minister of Information. Al-Omar is a figure close to the Salvation Government and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. The changes to the composition of the “Salvation” government were limited to changing both the Minister of Justice and Local Administration, while the Ministry of Information was added to its portfolio.
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Sources indicate that the new Ministry of Information may negatively impact local media workers in northwestern Syria, and its unannounced tasks may involve the establishment of a media for the authority to own media work in the region. The new ministry will increase the monopoly of the media and the official narrative by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its civil and media arm, with the aim of directing public opinion and fully strengthening the de facto authorities’ grip on the Strip.
Observers believe that it would have been more beneficial to establish a ministry to improve the living conditions of citizens instead of adding a ministry whose only task will be to adopt and promote the government narrative at the expense of the continued suffering of Syrians in camps and all liberated areas in light of the high prices, the deterioration of living conditions, the increasing rates of poverty, unemployment and other negative phenomena that are left unaddressed by the government.
Since its establishment, the Salvation Government, the civilian arm of “Tahrir al-Sham,” has been restricting civilians by imposing itself as a civilian force supported by a military and security arm of HTS. It withdraws the capabilities of liberated areas and exercises control over organizations, camps, and main cities, while being unable to secure the most basic necessities of life for the people.
The escalation of cases of attacks against media activists in the areas controlled by HTS in recent years, as well as relentless efforts to undermine the movements of activists and their work in accordance with the regulatory laws recently created by HTS-affiliated institutions, suggests a clear “systematic policy” to fight against anyone who violates it and its policies, at the expense of providing alternative media institutions and supporting them to be the voice to be heard alone, in order to dominate the media of the revolution as a whole and weaken every other voice.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights condemned HTS’ restrictions on the work of media institutions, their cadres and citizen journalists in the areas under its control, noting that these practices are similar to the Syrian regime’s repressive methods of banning all independent Arab and international media.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
