'' ARA News'' () was an online news service focused on the consequences of war in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. Although described as a Kurdish news agency by its director, the site started as an Arabic-only news service and , still published only in the Arabic and English languages, and ceased publishing around August 2017. ''ARA News'' was referenced hundreds of times by other news vendors, and thousands of times in social media. ''ARA News'' was supported by Free Press Unlimited, a media development organisation based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Ownership, identity and reliability

''ARA News'' is a member of the Ethical Charter for Syrian Media. The ownership of the ''ARA News'' is unpublished. The founder and chief editor is Adib Abdulmajid, a Syrian Kurd who fled Syria after taking part in pro-democracy activities, and sought asylum in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Reporters and editors of ''ARA News'' are named. Most of the staff are Kurdish, some are Arabs. ''ARA News'' was supported by Free Press Limited, whose mission statement is that "People deserve to know." Free Press Unlimited claims to work to ensure that impartial news and information are and remain available to people across the globe, particularly in countries where there is little to no press freedom. Free Press Unlimited has media projects in approximately 40 countries around the world.

Name

''ARA'' is an abbreviation of the Kurdish ''Ajansa Rojnamevaniya Azad'', meaning "Independent Press Agency". The Arabic name () is a simple transliteration of ''ARA News''.

History

''ARA News'' was founded by Adib Abdulmajid in 2013, the website's domain name having been registered in April 2013, and the first news reports were published in June 2013. Abdulmajid, a graduate of

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

and

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

universities, believed that in Syria and its region "freedom of expression has been suppressed for decades", and he created ''ARA News'' as "a step forward towards free media" in the region. With the aim of developing professional journalism in Syria, in 2014 Free Press Unlimited gave training to editors, news managers and reporters from ''ARA News''. In 2015 ''ARA News'' became one of the first 20 signatories of the Ethical Charter for Syrian Media, "an alliance of significant independent Syrian media organisations committed to the highest standards of journalism and unimpeded freedom of speech" established under

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (, ) is a government agency of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sida is responsible for organization of the bulk of Sweden's official development assistance to developing coun ...

sponsorship. The last online publication of ''ARA News'' was issued online in late August 2017.

References

External links

ARA News (English)
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117161332/http://aranews.net/ , date=2017-11-17
ARA News (Arabic)

ARA News first reports
Arab news agencies Internet properties established in 2013 Arabic-language websites News agencies based in the Netherlands