Syrian Presidency’s Instagram Account Reactivated

Syrian officials say a number of other government accounts remain suspended

One day after the Syrian government reported that the Instagram account of the office of the presidency had been blocked without notification, officials say that it has been reactivated as of Wednesday.

This account is important because it is commonly used by the Syrian government to publish statements. The Syrian government complained they saw the temporary blocking as part of a “soft war” being waged by the US against them.

Even though this account seems to no longer be part of the story, as it is now active, officials reported that several other government accounts on Instagram remain suspended, with no apparent reason given.

This all comes not long after Instagram had banned the accounts of a number of Iranian Revolutionary Guard members, which Instagram said was required by US law after Trump declared that organization to be “terrorists.”

Instagram appears to be much less forthcoming about what it’s doing in Syria, or why. So far there have been no statements, and Syria itself appears to be in the dark about what is being done.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.