Syria / Middle East & North Africa

On June 10, 2020, several members of the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Al-Qaeda offshoot previously known as Al-Nusra Front, hit and kicked at least 12 Syrian journalists while they were covering a joint Turkish-Russian military patrol on the M4 Highway, which links Latakia and Aleppo, according to four of the journalists who…

Syria hasn’t been greatly impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Syrian Health Ministry has counted 123 cases, and six deaths as of June 1, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The country has begun to relax restrictions it imposed in mid-March, including curfews and…

New York, May 11, 2020 — Authorities in northeastern Syria should reverse their suspension of reporter Vivian Fatah’s press credentials and allow all journalists to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Beirut, February 26, 2020 — Russian and Syrian military forces must ensure the safety of journalists and other civilians and hold those responsible for journalists’ deaths to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Five Syrian journalists embedded with forces supporting President Bashar al-Assad were injured in two incidents, on January 29 and February 2, 2020, in the northwestern Syrian governorates of Idlib and Aleppo, according to news reports and reports by their employers.

As wars subsided and a record low number of journalists were murdered in reprisal for reporting, the total number of journalists killed because of their work fell sharply in 2019. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

Beirut, December 10, 2019 — Malaysian authorities should disclose their reasons for holding Syrian Kurdish journalist Himbervan Kousa or release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Following Turkey’s military incursion into northern Syria in October, dozens of local and international journalists have reported on developments from the region. The military action has increased risks for journalists, with at least three killed during Turkish airstrikes last month, according to CPJ research.

Beirut, November 11, 2019—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the killing of Syrian journalist Abdul Hameed al-Yousef and urged all sides in the Syrian conflict to guarantee the safety of civilians, including journalists.

CPJ’s 2019 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free Published October 29, 2019 Somalia is the world’s worst country for the fifth year in a row when it comes to prosecuting murderers of journalists, CPJ’s 2019 Global Impunity Index found. War and political instability have fostered a deadly…