Al-Watan () is a privately owned government-aligned Syrian Arabic language daily newspaper published in Syria.
History and profile Al Watan launched on 5 November 2006 by editor-in-chief Waddah Abed Rabbo as Syria's first private political newspaper since the beginning of Ba'athist Syria in 1973. Prior to its launch, Syria had four daily newspapers, all state-owned.
The paper is published by the Syrian Arab Publishing and Distributing Company. It is the country's first private daily newspaper since the 1960s (not counting the state party organ Al-Baath), Its sister daily is Al Iqtissadiya.
Reception The online edition was the 33rd most visited website for 2010 in the MENA region.
Content As of 2011, the paper's editorial line and reporting was practically identical to those of state-owned papers. In fact, the owner of the daily is the cousin of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Rami Makhlouf. After the fall of the Assad regime in 2024, the newspaper published a statement from its editor-in-chief Waddah Abd Rabbo saying that it was "only carrying out instructions and publishing the news (the government) sent us".
References