Damascus, SANA-The Syrian community in the Russian city of St. Petersburg honored the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) and a number of its cadres in tribute to their efforts to cover news and the activities of the Syrian communities abroad.
Members of the People’s Assembly Mer’ei Touma and Mos’ab al-Halabi, as well as the permanent representative of the Syrian community in Russia Mohammad Abdul-Salem attended the honoring ceremony, which took place at the agency’s building in Damascus.
Among those honored were SANA Director-General Ahmad Dawa and the journalists Maha al-Atrash and Ghassan Khayou, as well as personalities in charge of running the community affairs in Damascus, namely Rasha Abu Rafe’, Khaled al-Baset, Raslan Alaa-Eddin and Abir Akel.
SANA Director-General Ahmad Dawa said in a press statement following the honoring ceremony that Syrian communities abroad are “ambassadors of their country, whose role consists in conveying the true image about the situation in Syria to the whole world.”
The honoring, he said, takes on special importance under solid Syrian-Russian relations, and sheds light on the work of the agency’s journalists and editors.
“Credibility, accuracy and balance have been the agency’s guiding principles in its work to convey the truth to the public and refute the allegations of media outlets which have the blood of the Syrians on their hands,” he added.
MP Ali al-Sattouf, for his part, hailed the efforts of SANA cadres “who are fighting a war against hundreds of international news agencies which congregated as part of a scheme against the homeland.”
Raslan Alaa-Eddin, director of Raslan House for Printing and Publication, in a speech he delivered on behalf of the Syrian community members in Russia expressed trust in “Syria’s ability to overcome the crisis soon, stronger than ever.”
Maha al-Atrash, a journalist who was among those honored, said that the agency’s work that has won it the honoring is “a culmination of collective efforts that serve the homeland.”
Manal Ismael