As Egypt marks its annual “October 6 Victory Day,” commemorating what it views as a triumph in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Arab media is focused on a new decree issued Sunday by Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. The order sets Syria’s official holidays and annual leave days and abolishes four holidays that were recognized under former President Bashar Assad.
The holidays removed include “March 8 Revolution Day,” “Teachers’ Day,” “Martyrs’ Day” (“al-Shuhada” in Arabic), and the commemoration of the Yom Kippur War.
Al-Sharaa, who recently addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York, added new holidays for what he called “the new Syria.” These include “Liberation Day,” set for December 8 to mark the fall of the Assad regime, and “Anniversary of the Syrian Revolution,” to be observed every March 18 — the date of the first demonstrations in Daraa in 2011 that signaled the start of Syria’s civil war.
In addition to the new national holidays, the decree lists religious and public celebrations including Eid al-Fitr, which ends Ramadan; Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice; the Islamic New Year; Christmas; Easter; and Mother’s Day.
Arab media — particularly in Egypt, where October 6 is a national holiday — devoted wide coverage to the Syrian decree. The Egyptian daily Al-Youm al-Sabea reported that in Syria “the memorial day for the war of October 6, 1973, which had been a national day marking the war of liberation against Israel, has been canceled. Also canceled was Martyrs’ Day on May 6, which commemorated the execution of a group of Syrian nationalists by Ottoman authorities in Damascus in 1916.”
The paper added that “the decision has sparked controversy after it included the cancellation of two of the most prominent national events in Syria for decades.”
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The decree also drew criticism across Arab social media, mostly from opponents of the new Syrian government. One post claimed al-Sharaa made the move “because October 6 annoys Israel,” referring to recent reports of talks between Syria and Israel about a possible security agreement. Another post on the platform X said: “On the anniversary of the victory over Israel, Ahmad al-Sharaa cancels the celebrations of the glorious October War, which crushed, humiliated and defeated the Zionist Israeli army.”
Other criticism came from Syrians who said the decree ignored the country’s minorities. The Nowruz festival, the Persian New Year celebrated by the Kurds, was not included in the list. One statement opposing the decree said it “clearly and regrettably ignores national and religious holidays important to many groups within the Syrian people and directly harms the principles of equality and citizenship that are supposed to be the cornerstone of the new Syria.”