Taani died six days after being hit by shrapnel caused by a barrel bomb, according to news reports and the local media outlet SMART News Agency, where he worked as the Daraa correspondent.
SMART News Agency said that on June 21, 2014, Taani was filming the government forces’ aerial bombardment of the Al-Abbasiya area of Daraa city when barrel bombs hit the building he was in. Taani suffered wounds to his head, chest, and legs and fell into a coma for six days. Taani was taken to Princess Basma Hospital in the city of Irbid in Jordan, where he died, according to news reports.
SMART News Agency is an opposition media outlet that publishes articles, photographs, and videos of breaking news in the region. Video reports by SMART News Agency have previously been aired on international news networks, such as Al-Jazeera.
Abu Satief, the general news coordinator of the agency, told CPJ that Taani, who was also known as Nasr al-Hourani or Abu Saleh al-Hourani, had worked with the agency since May 2013 and had covered battles between the Syrian army and rebel groups from Daraa, the city that sparked the Syrian revolution.
Local news reports said Taani was a well-known handball player before he chose to work as a correspondent for SMART.