Athanasius III Dabbas Publishes the First Books Printed in Arabic in the Middle East

In 1706 the first printing house in the Arab world that printed in Arabic was opened by the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan  Athanasius III Dabbas in Aleppo, Syria. al-Dabbas founded the press in Aleppo after he had helped to print two Arabic books in Romania at the beginning of the 18th century. His Romanian experience gave him the needed insight and skill to run his own press using equipment he had received as a gift from the ruler of Walachia in Romania. Within the first year of operation al-Dabbas issued two books, a Book of Psalms and a Gospel book. 

Schnurrer, Bibliotheca Arabica (1811) p. 374. The Gospel book printed in Arabic is described and illustrated in Lehrstuhl für Türkische Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur, Universität Bamberg, The Beginnings of Printing in the Near and Middle East: Jews, Christians and Muslims (2001) No. 3.