Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) is an outlet run by Ossama Suleiman (pseudonym Rami Abdulrahman) and his secretary out of Coventry, UK. They do, however, receive constant informational updates from a variety of activists in Syria, from rebel fighters to people willing to report the crimes of rebels. The SOHR displays the overall bias referring to the Syrian government as a "regime," giving credibility to reports that murky crimes were the work of the regime, instead of unclear, and only calling out rebels when the evidence of wrongdoing is bleedin' obvious. But they do it then, and sometimes quite well. They're by far the most widely-cited opposition activist group, and are frequently cited and often criticized here as well.

The unusual level of relative balance they get from their variety of sources finds visual expression in the unusual mixing of iconography, using anti-government French colonial colors in some places (like their main website syriahr.org and Arabic Facebook page) while maintaining the national colors elsewhere (like on the Youtube channel and English Facebook page - see inset).

Links

 * Official Website (Arabic - English)
 * Facebook page (English, more regular updates)

Articles

 * The Syrian Observatory: The Inside Story, Asa Winstanley, Al Akhbar, January 26, 2012
 * The Syrian opposition: who's doing the talking?, Charlie Skelton, The Guardian Comment is free, July 12, 2012
 * A Very Busy Man Behind the Syrian Civil War’s Casualty Count, Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, April 9, 2013