German news agency journalist killed in Syria war

(CLO) A Syrian photojournalist working for the German news agency DPA was just killed in an airstrike in rural Hama, where government troops are engaged in fierce fighting with rebel groups.

German news agency DPA (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) said its photographer Anas Alkharboutli was killed while "traveling and covering developments with the rebel coalition", in an article posted on its website on Wednesday.

Photojournalist Anas Alkharboutli has won numerous international awards for his work covering the civil war in Syria. Photo: CNN

A local journalist who witnessed the attack told international media that the 32-year-old photojournalist was near the town of Morek, about 27 kilometers north of Hama city, at the time.

The northern Hama countryside is currently the scene of fierce fighting between government troops and a rebel alliance that has just captured Aleppo, the country's second largest city, reigniting the country's long-running civil war.

Syria's defense ministry said on Wednesday it was hitting rebels "on all axes of movement" with multiple airstrikes.

Alkharboutli was waiting on a bridge with journalists from other media outlets when their position was bombed twice, “presumably by Syrian government warplanes,” according to the DPA news agency. The photojournalist died at the scene and was buried in Idlib on Wednesday (December 4).

DPA editor-in-chief Sven Gösmann sent his condolences to Alkharboutli's family, praising him for "not only documenting the horrors of war but also fighting for the truth." Anas Alkharboutli has received numerous international awards since 2014 for his reporting on the civil war in Syria.

The news came as Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, leader of the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) force leading the rebel coalition, announced that he had surrounded the city of Muhradah from three directions, about 25 km northwest of Hama.

After capturing Aleppo just days ago, the HTS-led rebel coalition appears to be focusing its efforts on Hama, a strategic city about 135 kilometers to the south.

Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city, is seen as the Assad regime's first line of defense in protecting a cluster of Mediterranean coastal towns and villages with large Alawite populations (Assad himself is an Alawite).

Nguyen Khanh (according to CNN, France24)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nha-bao-hang-thong-tan-duc-thiet-mang-trong-chien-su-syria-post324355.html