Newly Launched News Channel in Iraq Preserves Syriac

Presenters chat with each other on the Al-Syriania broadcast set at the station’s headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 27, 2023.

photo by Sara Hassan/The World

A newly launched television channel, Al-Syriania, aims to preserve the Syriac language. With funding from the Iraqi government, the new channel hopes to strengthen community connections of language and culture. It is a sister station of Al-Iraqiya, an Arabic television network that was set up after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime.

Based in Baghdad, the new channel has about 40 staff members. It can be viewed throughout Iraq and through satellite networks such as NilesSat and ArabSat. The news bulletins for the new channel are read in classical Syriac, but many of the other programs — which include cinema, art, history, cultural events and music — are presented in a dialect of the language.

“We have daily segments, like news and morning shows, and also, documentary programs about the history of the church and historical sites,” said Jack Anwia, the station director. “We also play classical Syriac songs and music, the top-100 movies, and we have correspondents reporting from the field.”

— Sara Hassan, Theworld.org