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Syrian opposition rebels have seized the purpose-built studio of the famous TV series ‘Bab El Hara’ (Neighborhood Fate) just outside Damascus as they step up a military campaign to topple president Bashar Al Assad.
A YouTube film, published in regional newspapers, showed the armed insurgents chanted ‘God is Great’ as they stormed into the famous gate of the structure, which was built six years ago to depict an old Damascus neighborhood for the filming of ‘Bab El Hara’, one of the most popular TV series in the Arab history.
The rebels appeared to be re-enacting a scene in the series when they opened the massive gate of the neighbored and shutting it later to indicate their full seizure of the structure, which had become a key tourism destination for Syrians and other Arabs before the war erupted in March 2011.
‘Bab El Hara’ has been broadcast during Ramadan over the past years and has been rated as one of the most popular Arab TV series.
The series chronicles the daily happenings and family dramas in an old neighborhood in the Syrian capital Damascus in the inter-war period under French rule when the population yearned for independence.
The first installment of the series, comprising 31 episodes, was aired during Ramadan in 2006 and it enjoyed broad viewership throughout the region, including Syria and nearby countries, the Gulf, Iraq and the Maghreb region.
The remaining four parts were telecast during Ramadan in the following years and its producers had spoken of a sixth part to be aired during Ramadan this year or 2014.
Like many of the most recent popular Arabic series, ‘Bab Al Hara’ is a Syrian production, financed by the Gulf satellite channels.
It reflects a new trend representing the shift of Arabic media dominance away from the Egyptians to the Syrians. As funding has become available from Gulf TV stations, the Syrians have seen an exponential rise to dominance in the field Arab audiovisual and cinematic production over the past few years.
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