Obeid, and two of his colleagues, Abdel Karim Nazir Ismail 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 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.
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.
Obeid, who regularly conducted interviews with Free Syrian Army members, also contributed to Saqba, a citizen
news organization that posts videos of government bombardments of neighborhoods,
clashes between rebels and government forces, and local protests and living
conditions, and is based in Saqba, a southern suburb of Damascus.
With an effective ban on foreign journalists and with local
media neutralized, international media relied heavily on reporting and footage
shot by Obeid and other citizen journalists.