During the Syrian civil war On 12 June 2012, a car of the Syrian News Channel became the target of an armed attack by a group of gunmen in the town of
Al-Haffa near the city of
Latakia. Syrian News Channel correspondent
Mazen Mohammad was hit in his hand while cameraman
Fadi Yakoub was hit in his chest. Both journalists were immediately admitted to the National Hospital in
Latakia. According to journalist
Mazen Mohammad, an armed group opened fire towards their car while trying to cover the events in
Al-Haffa near the National Hospital. In the early morning of 27 June 2012, a group of gunmen attacked the main building of the Syrian News Channel in Damascus countryside. Three staff members of the Syrian News Channel and four security guards were killed during the attack on the headquarters of the TV station. The three killed staff members are,
Zaid Kahel,
Mohammad Shamma and
Sami Abu Amin. The official
Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) announced that the assailants had also ransacked the offices of the TV station during the attack that was carried out at the early hours of the day. The assailants stormed the offices of Syrian News Channel, planted explosives in the studios and blew them up along with the equipment. Five buildings in the complex were destroyed in the attack. The attacks have been attributed to
al Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliated extremist group. An armed group kidnapped on 10 August 2012, four team members of the Syrian News Channel in al-Tall area of Damascus Countryside. The crew members are, Journalist
Yara Saleh, Cameraman
Abdullah Tabreh, Cameraman Assistant
Hatem Abu Yehya and the driver
Hussam Imad. However, the armed forces freed the team seven days later. Three colleagues were released except of
Hatem Abu Yehya who was killed by the armed groups. On 5 September 2012, Syrian television channels broadcast were broken off on
Arabsat and
Nilesat, including Syrian News Channel. On 27 September 2012, the Syrian News Channel was hijacked for about 90 seconds by unknown sides.
Mohammed al-Ashram, cameraman for Syrian News Channel was shot dead in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor on 10 October 2012. President
Bashar al-Assad gave an interview on 17 April 2013, to Syrian News Channel. On 27 May 2013,
Yara Abbas, a prominent female Syrian war reporter for the Syrian News Channel, was killed by rebels near the military air base of al-Dabaa in the central province of Homs. The cameraman
Osama Dayoub and driver
Badr Awad were injured in the attack.
Post-Assad The channel suspended all of its broadcasts after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. On 20 April,
Ministry of Information minister
Hamza al-Mustafa announced that the channel would be returning on 5 May 2025 after getting the "support and guidance" from president
Ahmed al-Sharaa. Head of the Syrian News Channel, Jamil Srour, said that the channel wanted to return on the 13th of March to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the Syrian Revolution but couldn't because of sanctions against the
General Authority for Radio and Television (GART). On 22 April 2025,
GART signed the contract with
Nilesat to bring the Syrian News Channel back to the Egyptian satellites, one day after signing the contract with ِQatari
Es'hailSat. On 5 May 2025, the channel relaunched at 5:00 PM. ==Headquarters==