Obeida abu Omar, a reporter for the pro-opposition Damaski Media Agency, was killed in an airstrike on March 21, 2018, in the rebel-held eastern Ghouta area of Syria, outside of Damascus, according to the Syrian Journalists Association, his employer, and news reports.
Abu Omar was covering Russian airstrikes from his home in the town of Ein Tirma when a missile hit the house, according to Yousef al-Boustani, the Damaski Media Agency director. The journalist died at the scene and several civilians who were also in the house were injured, al-Boustani told CPJ.
Abu Omar worked as a reporter for the independent pro-opposition Damaski Media Agency and documented the humanitarian effects of Russian and other pro-President Bashar al-Assad forces’ siege on eastern Ghouta, according to the media agency. The journalist’s employer also said that he worked as the information office director for the local search and rescue group, Syrian Civil Defense.
Eastern Ghouta has been under constant shelling, airstrikes, and rocket fire from al-Assad forces and their allies since February 18, 2018. At least 1,197 civilians have been killed and 4,640 wounded in the offensive, according to the London-based human rights group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.