Ismail, and two of his colleagues, Issam Obeid and Loay al-Nimir,
were killed when a mortar shell hit them while they were filming clashes
between security forces and armed rebels in the southern Damascus suburb of
Arbin, according to news reports.
The rebel Free Syrian Army captured Arbin
in July 2012, but has been engaged in continuous battle with Syrian government
forces over the suburb, according to news reports.
The three videographers contributed to the Syrian Media
Center, a
local news organization that has posted thousands of videos and news stories
documenting the Syrian conflict since March 2011.
The Syrian Media Center posts news and reports from around the
country covering the conflict, politics, clashes, and protests and is picked up
by several regional news outlets including Al-Jazeera. The center does not
publish footage under individual bylines.
With an effective ban on foreign journalists and with local
media neutralized, international media relied heavily on reporting and footage
shot by Ismail and other citizen journalists.