DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The "Arab Intellectuals and the Syrian Crisis: Ideas and Solutions" seminar, organized by the Arab Writers Union, concluded its activities on Wednesday.

The participants, who include Arab intellectuals and representatives from writers guilds in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, the Jordanian Popular Committee for Supporting the Syrian People, covered three issues during the closing sessions of the two day-seminar; "democracy and media", "the army: shield of country and nation" and "rejecting all forms of foreign interference."

In the session on "democracy and media," the participants discussed the relation between democracy and media in light of advances in communication, media and social networking, stressing the need for media to promote proper democracy principles and not be abused to misdirect public opinion to serve linear interests.

They pointed out that the Syrian crisis employed a postmodern war using various tools including sectarian instigation and terrorism, with this war's ultimate goal being to unravel national policy and reform it to match western plans.

Participants said that some mass media employ a "smart rabble" logic in covering events in Syria, using advanced communication technology to create networks tasked with vandalizing the country.

They underlined the role of mass media in formulating the public opinion, noting that there's no such thing as a truly independent media outlet as all media has official or unofficial sponsors that use media to serve their own ends, with capitalist countries having control over influential media.

A lecture during the seminar focused  on the development of Arab media and the challenges facing it, in addition to reviewing reforms carried out in Syria in the field of media.

The participants stressed that the foreign media waging a misdirection campaign against Syria lost all basis of democracy and became a pawn and a partner of shedding Syrian blood.

They called for launching democratic dialogue within media establishments and adopting a form of democracy that suits modern Arab societies based on pluralism and public voting.

The participants said that Syrian national media is playing its part in resisting the aggression against Syria and its media tools, which resulted in sanctions against national media as it succeeded in unraveling lies and won major battles in the field of journalism, calling for taking steps to confront the siege and sanctions imposed on Syria media.

Later, in the session dedicated to discussing  the issue of "the army: shield of country and nation," participants said that the Syrian Arab Army taught the world the meaning of cohesion, steadfastness and determination.

They affirmed that Syria is about to recover stability and security thanks to its nationalist army which proved its worth in defending the homeland, continuing its historic tradition of offering martyrs in defense of the nation's interests.

Participants noted that the Syrian Arab Army represents the diverse Syrian society and that it proved to be a uniting factor, adding that the strength of the army lies in its nationalist creed and military discipline.

In the session discussing "rejecting all forms of foreign interference," participants said that what is happening in Syria is a proxy war waged by terrorist groups on behalf of western colonialist forces, stressing the illegitimacy of all forms of direct and indirect foreign interference.

They called for presenting practical and applicable solutions to end the Syrian crisis, underlining the role of intellectuals in this regard.

The participants said that proponents of foreign interference in Syria seek to undermine and eliminate the resistance axis and destroy Syria, with the US using politicized Islamist groups to serve its ends, denouncing the voices in the Syrian opposition which beg for foreign military intervention in complete disregard of Syria's future and interests.

They also said that foreign interference attempts failed due to the Syrian leadership's firm position in the face of the attacks against it and the support of countries like Russia, China, BRICS countries and Iran.

H. Sabbagh