Syriac is an ancient Semitic language, close to the ancient Arabic dialects. It was prevalent in northern Mesopotamia and around the Euphrates River basin.
It declined to a local ecclesiastical language after the sovereignty of Arabic - which shares the same linguistic family. A new Syriac-language public channel is seeking to preserve this ancient legacy. The channel shows programs on cinema, culture and history, and news bulletins are read in Syriac, but "there are probably a lot of Christian listeners"