Economy & Aftermath

Prime Minister chairs a meeting to discu…
Prime Minister Hussein Arnous on Monday chaired an enlarged meeting for discussing the issue of reviving the leading role of the exportation sector in Syria based on an i...
DAMASCUS, (ST)_The Ministry of Endowments...
DAMASCUS, ( ST)_President Bashar Al-Assad...
Syria has held the US administration...
Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister, Nikolai...
There is not much academic writing on the...
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has reaffirmed...
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has...
The US occupation forces have transferred...
The Turkish occupation-backed terrorists...
The novel Coronavirus has so far claimed the...
A number of Turkish-backed mercenaries were...
The Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday...
Slovak university professor František...
The Turkish occupation has set up barriers...
The Palestinian Prisoners Association has...
On April 12th, the joint Syrian and Russian...
Researcher Dr. Radi Al-Shuaibi, founder of the...
On April 12th, the Palestinian Ministry of...
On April 12th , Minister of Foreign Affairs and...
Cairo, (ST) - Eight Egyptian parties called for...
Prime Minister Hussein Arnous on Monday chaired an enlarged meeting for discussing the issue of reviving the leading role of the exportation sector in Syria based on an i...
Various products that attract the attention of the whole family have been displayed in “Welcome Ramadan" Bazaar, which was held by "Bregma" Company at the Four Seasons Ho...
The Ministry of Tourism is working during the coming period to eliminate obstacles hindering tourism development, provide facilitations, incentives and loans to investors and solve all legal and administrative problems with the aim of rehabilitating the tourism facilities that stopped because of the repercussions of the war on Syria. In a statement to SANA, Deputy Minister of Tourism for Projects, Planning and Touri...
Read moreHaneen Al-Fahd: Drawing is a space to express my feelings and my Sensations The love of drawing dominated the consciousness and imagination of the young woman, Haneen Al-Fahd, as it has become her own way to express her feelings and is a space of hope to overcome the difficulties that she went through to prove herself and achieve success in the field of drawing and in her studies at the College of Pharmacy. About her passion for drawing, she...
Read moreAs part of the "Syrian Family Days" campaign which was launched by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor under the slogan "My family is fine .. I am fine and my country is fine" ... the "Mosaic" Association for Humanitarian Relief and Development held an exhibition of handicrafts and entertainment activities for women and their children in Al-Orouba Park in Lattakia.
Read moreOCCUPIED SYRIAN GOLAN,(ST)_The people of the occupied Syrian Golan have reiterated their adherence to their Syrian nationality and their steadfastness in confronting the Israeli occupation authorities' aggressive practices. In a statement released on Monday on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Golan citizen Ghalia Farhat, the occupied Golan's people said: " For more than half century, ...
Read moreHe also emphasize the importance of ask Syrians what they think about the return of tourism to their country. "I can assure you that, since Syria used to be a major touristic destination, today Syrians are very happy to see that tourists are coming back because this is a real sign of recovery." He explained.
Torres recounts that he traveled in Syria independently in January 2019, yet, didn’t book a tour. Since a lot of people asked him how he managed to visit Syria individually and freely; he reported a long story to clarify this matter on his website. However to summarize in few words: a tourism agency tried to fool him and threaten him, but he didn't respond, and booked a flight straight to Beirut, crossed the Syrian border. He added "as I expected, I managed to travel around Syria without any problem, including going to Aleppo and Homs by public transportation and Couchsurfing."
Traveling to Damascus from Beirut is the easiest way to travel to Syria. Beirut is only 115km from Damascus and the journey takes only 2 hours, including the customs process. Torres says "On the Lebanese side, they barely check your passport and, on the Syrian side, they take around 20 minutes, as long as there are no people, of course." First, they check your security clearance, and then you purchase your visa at the bank counter and give your receipt to the immigration officer.You only get a stamp, not a visa sticker .He explains that after getting your Syrian visa and resuming your journey, you will go through several checkpoints, but you shouldn’t experience any problem. He wittily added "In fact, some soldiers were joking with me about football when they saw my Spanish passport."
When asked about Syria as known to be not particularly female traveler friendly, and if Joan recommends going there as a solo female traveler? Joan Torres replied:" When it comes to the local culture and open-mindedness, I tried to compare it with other Middle Eastern countries and, to be very honest, I didn’t see much difference versus Palestine and Jordan, 2 countries where females can now travel easily.In Damascus, you see loads of women without hijab and there is actually a large Christian population and, in their district, you find very open-minded people, like in any European capital."
More and more people are interested in making the trip to Syria not only to witness the war effects, which are unmeasurable and have affected every inches in the daily lives of Syrians, but as well to enjoy the remaining's of great civilizations, and the delightful generosity and hospitality of a prodigious people, who despite the fact that he is struggling to survive unbelievable and unbearable circumstances is still able to show empathy for the Other_ whoever is that other.
Report: Lama Alhassanieh