Sari Majid Al-Shoufi, a photojournalist with the local independent news outlet Suwayda 24, was killed July 14, 2025, while covering armed clashes in Taara, his home village near the southern Syrian city of Sweida. His death was confirmed July 24, 2025, after a several-day search.
Al-Shoufi had been reporting on the Syrian government’s escalating clashes with tribal forces and local Druze groups when he went missing in the early hours of July 14, according to Rayan Marouf, Editor-in-Chief of Suwayda 24.
“He told us around 1 a.m. that he was safe and staying with local armed residents,” Marouf told CPJ.
Just before 6 a.m., Al-Shoufi began sending urgent voice messages to his colleagues, the outlet reported. “He said the site was under heavy attack by drones and armored vehicles, and that everyone around him had been killed,” Marouf said. “He was wounded and trying to surrender, but no one was responding to his calls.”
Marouf said he spoke to Al-Shoufi briefly by phone around 6:20 a.m. and kept the line open. “I heard continuous gunfire, then the call abruptly ended.”
CPJ’s calls to Syrian Ministry of Information spokesperson Mohammad Al-Saleh did not receive any response.