Syrian journalist Mohammed Sayyed Hassan was injured in airstrikes in his home town of Atareb, in northern Syria, late at night on July 24, 2016, and died of his wounds in a Turkish hospital on August 1, according to news reports.
Hassan covered events in his hometown of Atareb in the countryside near Aleppo for numerous outlets, including, most recently, the All4Syria news website. He also founded the Al-Nabaa Media Center, which reports on the Syrian war’s impact on northern Syria.
According to All4Syria and the Al-Nabaa Media Center, Hassan was injured while covering Russian airstrikes on Atareb on the night of July 24. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 civilians were killed in those attacks.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that “Russian Aerospace Forces and Syrian Air Force did not make strikes on opposition armed formations, which follow ceasefire regime and informed the Russian[s] or American[s] … about their location,” on either July 24 or July 25.
The Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to CPJ’s emailed requests for comment in October 2016.
Hassan was evacuated to Turkey with serious injuries to his head, chest, stomach, and hands, according to All4Syria. A graphic picture published by Al-Nabaa Media Center shows Hassan on a gurney with bloodied bandages on his left temple and left arm. Hassan died after a week of efforts to save him.
Hassan routinely published his reporting on his Facebook page. On July 23 Hassan posted an All4Syria interview he conducted with the founder of the rebel Free Syrian Army, Riad al-Asaad. Two days before, on July 21, he posted an Al-Nabaa Media Center photograph purportedly showing a medic carrying a young boy from Atareb who had lost his right arm in a government airstrike.