Aktivis: PEMBERONTAK Membunuh Wartawan Iraq di SYRIA . . .

Beribu-ribu orang Syria, kebanyakan yang mereka Kristian, menyambut Hari Kristian Salib, dengan menetapkan api di atas gunung di Kampung Maaloula, utara Damsyik. Febronia Nabhan, Ibu Superior di Saidnaya Convent, berkata Selasa Disember 3, 2013 bahawa 12 biarawati di kampung kebanyakannya Kristian Maaloula telah diculik oleh pejuang pembangkang dan dibawa ke sebuah bandar pemberontak- diadakan.(Photo AP- think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Ct1Mahani | SitiWanMahani - BEIRUT (AP) pejuang pembangkang Syria membunuh seorang wartawan bebas Iraq dalam pemberontak- diadakan utara negara itu, yang terbaru puluhan pemberita yang telah mati di negara ini dalam tempoh 3 tahun yang lalu, sebuah kumpulan aktivis dan pemantau media antarabangsa, Khamis.

Balai Cerap Syria berasaskan Britain bagi Hak Asasi Manusia berkata Yasser Faisal al- Jumaili ditembak mati di pusat pemeriksaan pemberontak di wilayah barat laut Idlib pada Rabu. Soazig Dollet daripada Wartawan yang berpangkalan di Paris Tanpa Sempadan kumpulan akhbar advokasi mengesahkan al-Jumaili terbunuh dalam Idlib, sambil menam-bah bahawa badannya telah dibawa ke Turki untuk dihantar pulang kemudian. Beliau ber-kata, dia tidak tahu bagaimana al-Jumaili telah dibunuh.

Jawatankuasa Melindungi Wartawan berkata Syria merupakan negara yang paling berba-haya di DUNIA untuk wartawan pada tahun 2012. Menurut kumpulan itu, 28 wartawan terbunuh dalam tahun itu sahaja. Mereka yang kehilangan nyawa mereka sejak krisis bermula pada Mac 2011 termasuk wartawan TV Perancis yang memenangi anugerah Gilles Jacquier, jurugambar Remi Ochlik dan Sunday Times wartawan Britain Marie Colvin. Selain itu, Anthony Shadid, koresponden The New York Times, mati selepas serangan asma jelas semasa tugasan di Syria.

Pada akhir Oktober, seorang wartawan Syria bekerja untuk TV Al-Arabiya ditembak mati di wilayah utara Aleppo. Beliau dipercayai yang telah dibunuh oleh pelampau Islam yang beliau telah dikritik sebelum kematiannya.

Dollet berkata al- Jumaili datang dari bandar Iraq di Fallujah, yang merupakan sarang pemberontakan Sunni dan salah satu kawasan pertama di mana pemberontak berdiri tanah mereka terhadap askar Amerika selepas tahun 2003 serangan yang diketuai Iraq.

Pengarah Balai Cerap Rami Abdurrahman dan Dollet memberitahu The Associated Press bahawa al-Jumaili bekerja pada masa lalu untuk Al-Jazeera TV dan Reuters. Mereka tahu mengatakan yang al-Jumaili bekerja untuk semasa lawatan terakhir.

Abdurrahman berkata lelaki bersenjata yang membunuh al- Jumaili dipercayai menjadi anggota Negara Islam al-Qaeda di Iraq dan Levant. Beliau berkata mereka pejuang asing. Abdurrahman berkata menembak itu dipercayai telah berlaku di antara bandar dan Saraqib Maaret Musreen, tetapi tidak tahu di mana ia berlaku. “Mereka berhenti dia di pusat pemeriksaan dan membuka senjata serta-merta tanpa meminta apa-apa soalan,” katanya.

Dalam perkembangan lain, Balai Cerap itu berkata 12 biarawati yang diambil oleh pem-berontak dari bandar kebanyakannya Kristian Maaloula utara Damsyik awal minggu ini masih di bandar pemberontak- diadakan di Yabroud.

Pada hari Khamis, Yunani Ortodoks Patriarch Syria, John Yazigi, mengaku untuk melepaskan biarawati dengan berkata beliau membatalkan perjalanan ke Teluk dan akan menuju ke Syria pada hari Jumaat untuk susulan ke atas kes itu. “Kami menggesa masya-rakat antarabangsa, semua kerajaan untuk bekerja pada mendapatkan mereka keluar dengan selamat,” Yazigi kepada pemberita di Biara Balamand di utara Lubnan. “Apa yang kita mahu hari ini adalah perbuatan yang baik dan ketara, tidak bercakap.”

Pada hari Rabu, Pope Francis dipanggil untuk solat bagi biarawati, yang dilaporkan diam-bil oleh kuasa dari biara mereka di Syria dengan pemberontak. Pegawai-pegawai agama di rantau ini telah berkata wanita telah diculik, tetapi seorang aktivis pembangkang Syria telah berkata mereka hanya dikeluarkan untuk keselamatan mereka sendiri.

Tentera Syria menembak mesingan berat semasa pertempuran dengan pemberontak di kampung Maaloula, timur laut Damsyik, Ibu kota Syria. Febronia Nabhan, Ibu Superior di Saidnaya Convent, berkata Selasa Disember 3, 2013 bahawa 12 biarawati di kampung kebanyakannya Kristian Maaloula telah diculik oleh pejuang pembangkang dan dibawa ke sebuah bandar pemberontak-diadakan. (Photo AP- think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Activists: Rebels kill Iraqi Journalist in SYRIA

BEIRUT (AP) Syrian opposition fighters killed an Iraqi freelance journalist in the rebel-held north of the country, the latest of dozens of reporters who have died in the country over the past three years, an activist group and an international media watchdog said Thursday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Yasser Faisal al-Jumaili was shot dead at a rebel checkpoint in the northwestern province of Idlib on Wednesday. Soazig Dollet of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders press advocacy group confirmed al-Jumaili was killed in Idlib, adding that his body was taken to Turkey in order to be sent home later. She said she doesn't know how al-Jumaili was killed.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said that Syria was the most dangerous country in the world for journalists in 2012. According to the group, 28 reporters were killed in that year alone. Those who lost their lives since the crisis began in March 2011 include award-winning French TV reporter Gilles Jacquier, photographer Remi Ochlik and Britain's Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin. Also, Anthony Shadid, a correspondent for The New York Times, died after an apparent asthma attack while on assignment in Syria.

In late October, a Syrian journalist working for Al-Arabiya TV was shot dead in the northern province of Aleppo. He was believed to have been killed by Islamic extremists who he had sharply criticized before his death.

Dollet said al-Jumaili came from the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency and one of the first areas where insurgents stood their ground against American troops after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman and Dollet told The Associated Press that al-Jumaili worked in the past for Al-Jazeera TV and Reuters. They did know say who al-Jumaili was working for during his last trip.

Abdurrahman said the gunmen who killed al-Jumaili were believed to be members of al-Qaida's Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. He said they were foreign fighters. Abdurrahman said the shooting is believed to have taken place between the towns of Saraqib and Maaret Musreen, but did not know exactly where it happened. "They stopped him at the checkpoint and opened fire immediately without asking any questions," he said.

In another development, the Observatory said that 12 nuns taken by rebels from the predominantly Christian town of Maaloula north of Damascus earlier this week are still in the rebel-held town of Yabroud.

On Thursday, Syria's Greek Orthodox Patriarch, John Yazigi, pleaded for the release of the nuns, saying that he cancelled a trip to the Gulf and will head to Syria on Friday to follow up on the case. "We call upon the international community, all governments to work on getting them out safely," Yazigi told reporters in the Balamand Monastery in northern Lebanon. "What we want today is good and tangible acts, not talks."

On Wednesday, Pope Francis called for prayers for the nuns, who were reportedly taken by force from their convent in Syria by rebels. Religious officials in the region have said the women were abducted, but a Syrian opposition activist has said they were merely removed for their own safety.