After more than a decade of ceasing print and distribution in Damascus and its countryside, Enab Baladi newspaper has returned once again as a printed edition to the streets of Damascus.
Enab Baladi was established in December 2011, in the city of Daraya in rural Damascus, and was one of the first independent newspapers to document the violations of the Syrian regime, as well as the suffering of Syrians during the revolution.
The first issue of the newspaper was released on January 29, 2012, and the first copies were printed through self-funding and the efforts of its founding staff using a home printer, distributed secretly by volunteers in the neighborhoods of Daraya and Damascus.
Due to its editorial line, many members of its staff were arrested, while others were martyred under torture in the Assad regime’s prisons or as a result of shelling and military operations in the city of Daraya.
During the years 2012 and 2013, Enab Baladi lost several of its most important cadre and founders: Mohammad Anwar Kuraitem, Ahmad Khaled Shihadeh, and Mohammad Fares Shihadeh, who were martyred during Assad’s military campaigns on the city of Daraya. Later, they received news of the death of Nabil Walid Sharbaji and Ahmad Walid Helmi, under torture in the prisons of the Syrian regime.
With the regime’s control over most of Syrian territories, Enab Baladi continued its coverage without interruption, but the printing and distribution of the newspaper shrank to the northern areas of Syria controlled by the opposition until 2020.
Conversely, Enab Baladi relied on expanding its digital and visual content to reach its audience online, or the printed copies that were smuggled into the interior of Syria.
However, with the collapse of the Syrian regime and the opening of the public space for independent journalism, Enab Baladi was able to resume printing and distribution within Damascus, in a move that reflects changes in the media scene in Syria.
Prior to the printing move, a newsroom was established in Damascus to bring Enab Baladi’s journalists closer to the street and in touch with the people, supported by a network of correspondents in the Syrian provinces, and the institution’s newsrooms in Turkey and Germany.
The return of printing inside Syria represents a victory for free journalism and an opportunity to reconnect with the audience inside Syria.
This step comes amidst many challenges, the most prominent of which is ensuring freedom of expression during an ambiguous transitional phase.
Enab Baladi newspaper resumes printing and distribution in Damascus – March 4, 2025 (Enab Baladi)