Permanently moving our blog to Wordpress

As some of you may have noticed, we operate on a number of platforms these days. Wordpress.com, this blog account, Twitter to share news, commentary and articles, Facebook to put out news, share articles, etc.

However, spreading out our work to two blogs (on wordpress and blogger) minimises our ability to spread articles and attract an audience, as they will be divided between two sites, instead of being able to focus on the one site. As a result, we are moving our blog permanently to wordpress.com, where we have already been running a blog for some time. It is a better platform for blogging, sharing articles, gaining a following (and thus spreading the word about the cause of freedom, etc).

Thus, this will be our last post on this blog, as we shift our efforts permanently to wordpress.com. You can find our new blog here, where we will post from now on. Thanks go to all who have viewed this blog and shared posts from it so far. We will continue to keep it up for archival purposes.

We will also continue to post from our Twitter account (Radio_FreeSyria), Tumblr account, and Facebook page.

Regards,
The Radio Free Syria team.

Show your support, end the siege!

Children, elderly people, and anyone who cannot obtain food, are dying of starvation and the Assad regime's brutal bombardment in Moadamiyet al Sham (a.k.a. Moadamiyeh). Not only that, but the regime has tormented and tortured the people using the disgusting tactic of claiming that they will allow food aid into the besieged neighbourhood if they fly the regime flag, only to give them token amounts. This is one of many such disgraceful atrocities: http://stopthesiege.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/a-few-brave-hearts/

Please show your support and solidarity with the starving people, and brave hunger-striker Qusai Zakarya, here, while there is still time.

Break the siege campaign on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SyriaBreakSiege?fref=ts

YouTube: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1GebUuayH2PlYdla36noPw?feature=watch

Solidarity with Qusai Zakarya, the hunger-striker: https://www.facebook.com/qusaihungerstrike?fref=ts

Qusai's blog: http://stopthesiege.wordpress.com/

Radio Free Syria: Intimidation and Harassment against our Station

Recently, our social media accounts have come under repeated attack (resulting in several of us being banned from posting on Facebook for some 24 hours, allegedly for publishing evidence of Assad's genocide onto our Facebook page), one of our activists has received what can arguably be called harassment by individuals who seem to be from Britain's security services (his family were troubled by them during his time in Syria, where he worked on a popular documentary there), and threats by Assad supporters have been received in the past, many of them directly sent to our (aforementioned) former correspondent in Syria.

We urge our followers to be vigilant, and to keep a look out for a new Radio Free Syria page, in the event that this one suddenly disappears.

If such harassment of our activists continues, the activist in question is threatening to publish the mobile phone number of one of the individuals in question (the other number was withheld by the caller) who sent him calls and messages, as well as contact the police. He has rejected any meetings with them, and urged respect for his privacy. Thanks for your attention.

- The RFS team.

A message to Western media outlets...

A message to Western media from heroic media activist and Radio Free Syria manager Qusai Zakarya in Moadamiya, #Damascusprovince concerning the evacuation of some civilians from the town yesterday. As has become the norm, media, including the BBC and the Huffington Post, reported only the Assad regime's monstrously distorted version of events, without bothering to consult its victims, whose voices are silenced by both the regime and Western media, both mainstream and 'alternative' (sic).

"Moadamiya, #Damascus province, 30-10-2013: I would like to update you about the situation in Moadamiya. Over 100 men were detained yesterday during the evacuation. Today news has come out that these men are being forces into serving in the Syrian army and to join Assad's thugs, commonly called shabeeha. Certainly, these men would prefer death over such a fate. It's also important to remember that during the first evacuation a few weeks ago, Assad forces detained several children and some still remain in custody, their fates unknown to their families. Although many journalists have written about the Moadamiya story, no one has focused on the fate of the evacuated civilians and the danger they are in right now."

Introduction by Radio Free Syria's Ruth, message via Qusai Zakarya in Moadamiya, Damascus province.