“On 26 November 2019, President al-Assad granted an interview to Rai CEO, Monica Maggioni. It was agreed that the interview would air on 2 December on both Italian Rai News 24 and Syrian national media outlets. Early on the morning of 2 December, we received a request, on behalf of Rai News 24, to delay the broadcast with no clear explanation. This was later followed by two further requests to delay, with no date set for when the interview will air and no further explanation,” the press service said on late Saturday in a statement, posted on its Facebook page.
The Syrian presidential press service described the situation as one more example of Western attempts to conceal the truth about the situation in Syria.
“If Rai News 24 continue to refuse to air the interview, the Political and Media Office of the Syrian Presidency will broadcast the interview in full, on Monday 9 December 2019 at 9pm Damascus time [19:00 GMT],” the statement added.
The Syrian government regularly accuses the Western countries of waging an information campaign aimed at discrediting the country’s authorities amid the ongoing civil conflict.