Throughout the past month, much of the BBC News website’s Middle East coverage has, understandably, focused on events in Syria. One of the journalists who has been reporting from Damascus is BBC News Middle East editor Sebastian Usher and two of his recent reports are notable for what they do not tell BBC audiences.
On January 2nd the BBC News website published a report by Usher headlined ‘New Syrian government’s school curriculum changes spark concern’ which opens by telling readers that:
“There is concern growing in Syria that the new Islamist-led authorities have already decided on changes to the school curriculum, without the input of the rest of society.
The Facebook page of the transitional government’s education ministry has posted the new curriculum for all age groups, which will take on a more Islamic slant, as well as dropping any reference to the Assad era across all subjects.
The phrase “Defending the nation” has been replaced by “Defending Allah”, among other changes.
The Education Minister, Nazir al-Qadri, downplayed the move, saying the curriculum is essentially unchanged and will remain so until specialised committees have been set up to review and revise it.”
Additional changes detailed by Usher read as follows:
“Other proposed changes include Evolution and the Big Bang theory being dropped from science teaching.
References to the gods worshipped in Syria before Islam, as well as images of their statues, are also being dropped.
The significance of the great Syrian heroine Queen Zenobia, who once ruled Palmyra in the Roman era, seems to have been downplayed.
The Assad era has essentially been excised from the curriculum, including poems celebrating both Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, in Arabic language courses.
In a statement, al-Qadri said the only instructions he had issued were related to the removal of content that he described as glorifying the “defunct Assad regime” and the instatement of the Syrian revolutionary flag in all textbooks.”
That latter statement promoted by Usher apparently does not tell the whole story.
The same topic was covered by other media outlets including the Wall Street Journal and CNN. Citing the WSJ article, the Jerusalem Post reported that:
“The changes include changing the phrases “path of goodness” to “Islamic path” and “those who are damned and have gone astray” to “Jews and Christians.”
They redefine the word “martyr” from someone who died for a homeland to someone who sacrifices themself “for the sake of God.” The phrase “defending the nation” is set to be replaced with “defending Allah.” The phrase “God’s Sharia” was replaced with “Law of Justice,” and the phrase “human brotherhood” was changed to “faith brotherhood.””
CNN’s report includes the following:
“The changes, published in a list of amendments on the education ministry’s official Facebook page, include changing the phrases “path of goodness” to “Islamic path,” and “those who have are damned and have gone astray” to “Jews and Christians” – which pertains to an ultra-conservative interpretation of a verse in Islam’s holy book, the Quran.”
Notably, Sebastian Usher apparently did not consider that reference to “Jews and Christians” – which some might consider more relevant to audience understanding of current affairs than a third-century queen – worthy of inclusion in his report.
Two days earlier, on December 31st 2024, the BBC News website published a report by Usher which is now headlined ‘Foreign fighters given senior Syrian army posts, reports say’.
“The new Syrian authorities are reported to have given some foreign Islamist fighters senior official posts in the country’s armed forces.
The army is being re-organised by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that is now effectively in charge of the country following the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month. […]
Several Syrian sources have deduced that out of almost 50 new military roles that have been announced, at least six have gone to foreigners.
Based on the names that have been published, they are said to include Chinese Uyghurs, a Jordanian and a Turkish national. All are said to have been given high-ranking positions as colonels or brigadier-generals.”
Usher does not name any of the new appointees but a Reuters report published on the same day did manage to do so:
“Chinese Uyghur militant Abdulaziz Dawood Khudaberdi, also known as Zahid and the commander of the separatist Turkistan Islamic Party’s (TIP) forces in Syria, was appointed a brigadier-general, a TIP statement said and the Syrian military source confirmed.
Two other Uyghur fighters, Mawlan Tarsoun Abdussamad and Abdulsalam Yasin Ahmad, were given the rank of colonel, said the TIP statement published on its website, congratulating them and the Uyghur community on the appointments.
All the names appear in Sunday’s Defence Ministry announcement, though the nationalities are not included.”
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) is designated a terrorist organisation by the EU, the UN and the UK among others. The Reuters report also states:
“Turkish citizen Omar Mohammed Jaftashi and Jordanian citizen Abdul Rahman Hussein al-Khatib were also made brigadier-generals, the Syrian military source and the HTS source said.
Abdul Jashari, an ethnically Albanian fighter also known as Abu Qatada al-Albani, was appointed colonel, the military source said.
Jashari head the Albanian jihadist group Xhemati Alban and was designated a terrorist by the U.S. Treasury in 2016.
Egyptian Alaa Mohammed Abdel-Baqi was also given a military rank, the source said.”
Abdel-Baqi was apparently sentenced in absentia to imprisonment in Egypt in 2018.
Information such as the names, backgrounds and, in some cases, terrorist designations of those new commanders in the armed forces would clearly have better enabled BBC audiences to understand developments in Syria but for some reason it was not provided by Sebastian Usher.
Similarly, CAMERA UK has been unable to find any BBC reporting to date relating to the December 26th appointment of US and UN designated terrorist Anas Hassan Khattab to the role of head of the General Intelligence Service in Syria or the more recent appointment of Shadi Mohammed al Waisi – who previously oversaw public executions – to the role of minister of justice.
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Being an usher is the only thing this nonce is capable of #defundthebbc