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The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)
Media worker Anas Kharboutli, a photojournalist for Germany’s Deutsche Press Agency (DPA), was killed on December 4, 2024, in an airstrike by a fixed-wing Syrian regime warplane, which targeted a gathering of media workers in the city of Morek in northern rural Hama. The attack occurred while the media workers were covering the ongoing air and ground assaults on towns in the area, coinciding with fierce clashes between regime forces and opposition factions participating in the Deter Aggression Operation in northern Hama city. The area targeted is under the control of armed opposition factions and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Anas Kharboutli, originally from the town of Kafr Batna in Rural Damascus, was renowned for his on-the-ground reporting in Syria. In 2020, he was awarded the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy’s Young Reporter of the Year in France, which he received in recognition of his work documenting military attacks in Idlib governorate, including Syrian regime and allied Russian and Iranian forces’ targeting of hospitals, residential neighborhoods, and markets. His coverage also highlighted the plight of civilians forced to flee their homes to farms and camps.
Kharboutli had worked as a photojournalist for DPA since he was forcibly displaced from Eastern Ghouta in March 2018. Before this, he was a student at Damascus University’s Department of Energy Engineering but felt compelled to drop out of university in 2011 to engage in media work following the outbreak of the pro-democracy uprising.
Systematic targeting of journalists
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) must stress that the Syrian regime has continuously targeted media workers as part of its military campaigns. Since November 27, 2024, SNHR has documented the killing of five media workers in Aleppo alone. Three of them were killed in a massacre by regime forces, while another was shot directly by regime personnel.
The ongoing targeting of journalists by the Syrian regime constitutes a blatant threat to press freedom and exacerbates the suffering of the Syrian people through systematic attempts to silence all voices of truth.
SNHR expresses unequivocal condemnation of the systematic killings and assaults committed by the Syrian regime against media workers. These actions constitute blatant violations of international humanitarian law, which explicitly mandates the protection of journalists and media personnel in conflict zones. SNHR calls for an independent and transparent international investigation into all incidents involving attacks on media workers, ensuring accountability for all responsible parties—from decision-makers to direct perpetrators—and for these findings to be transparently communicated to the Syrian people and the international community.
SNHR warns that the Syrian regime’s continuing denial of these crimes entrenches a culture of impunity and encourages further grave violations. SNHR must also underline the need to provide fair compensation to the families of media workers who have been killed for the material loss and emotional trauma they suffer as a result. Additionally, it is essential to create a safe environment for media work that ensures respect for freedom of expression and enhances the role of journalism in exposing the truth and documenting human rights violations.