While the magazine claimed to be "the only balanced, local, and reliable source of information on Syria in the English language," some observers dubbed it as "pro-regime.
"[2] The magazine was able to attract several leading media figures as contributors including David Ignatius of The Washington Post, Hala Gorani of CNN, and Riz Khan of al-Jazeera.
The 14-page series of articles and photographs denounced the American strike on Abu Kamal, a city in North-eastern Syria, and depicted blood-stained concrete from the attack site.
[3] Earlier in July 2008, Forward ran a story by the American writer Scott C. Davis on "What Michelle Obama can learn from Asma al-Assad."
In December 2008, Forward ran a series of articles to mark the election of Barack Obama as next president of the United States.
Forward featured an interview also with Ambassador Edward Djerejian, head of the James Baker Institute at Rice University.