Damascus – January 2025

As it enters its fourteenth year, Enab Baladi announces the opening of its new headquarters in the capital, Damascus, a step that represents the culmination of a journey filled with challenges and achievements. It embodies our firm belief that free and independent journalism is the cornerstone of building a society that promotes the values of democracy and justice and lays the foundation for a future based on transparency and freedom of expression.

After years of managing the organization from abroad due to security conditions that forced our team to leave in 2014, we return today to Damascus, carrying the message of free journalism to the heart of the homeland, aiming to be closer to the Syrian street and in direct contact with the people, supported by the newsrooms we established in Turkey and Germany, and through our network of field reporters spread across Syrian provinces, who continue to provide professional coverage that meets the aspirations of the Syrian audience.

Enab Baladi was established in December 2011 in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, by a group of citizen journalists during one of the most transformative periods in modern Syrian history. The first issue of the newspaper was published on January 29, 2012, and since then it has continued uninterrupted, becoming the longest-running independent Syrian newspaper among those that emerged with the Syrian revolution. It has witnessed major moments of transformation and has always strived to be a reliable voice representing the hopes and ambitions of Syrians, documenting their suffering in the darkest of circumstances.

Scattered copies of Enab Baladi after one of the distribution centers in Daraya city was bombed – 2013 (Daraya – Enab Baladi)

From the founding, our team has faced immense pressures and security pursuits that claimed the lives of several of our early staff members. During 2012 and 2013, we lost dear colleagues: Mohammad Anwar Kuraitem, Ahmad Khaled Shihadeh, and Mohammad Fares Shihadeh, who were martyred during Assad’s military campaigns on Daraya, at the height of its peaceful activism. Later, we received news of the deaths of our colleagues Nabil Walid Sharbaji and Ahmad Walid Helmi under torture in the prisons of the Syrian regime.

The sacrifices of these colleagues will remain a lasting symbol of the struggle for freedom of the press and the right of expression.

Despite the challenges of working from outside Syria and the complex security and political conditions, Enab Baladi has remained a model of independent journalism that adheres to high professionalism and sound editorial principles. We faced political pressures and attempts at polarization, and we have ensured that we remain an independent platform that amplifies the voices of Syrians and expresses their aspirations and hopes.

Enab Baladi’s role has not been limited to producing high-quality journalistic content but has also extended to training generations of young journalists and activists, who today are an active part of the Syrian media landscape, working in many institutions both inside Syria and abroad.

This legacy represents a pivotal part of our mission and embodies our commitment to enhancing professional journalism as a tool for positive change and building a more just and humane society.

As we resume our work from Damascus, we reaffirm our commitment to continue journalistic work with professionalism and independence, striving to provide coverage that reflects the pulse of the Syrian street with all its directions and interests and sheds light on its issues with depth and transparency.

We hope that this return will contribute to strengthening the status of free and independent journalism as a fundamental pillar for democratic transformation in Syria and as an empowering tool for Syrians to exercise their rights and express their voices effectively.

We express our deep gratitude to our readers and followers, who have always been the driving force behind our continuation.

And here we are in Damascus once again.

The Board of Directors of Enab Baladi