‘Fearless’ Syrian reporter Khattab killed following repeat attacks

Syrian protesters clash with Turkish forces during a demonstration in the town of Al-Bab against the Turkish presence. (File/AFP)
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Updated 15 December 2020
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‘Fearless’ Syrian reporter Khattab killed following repeat attacks

  • Al-Bab is a Turkish zone of influence, but Turkey leaves the administration of these areas to the Syrian military factions and the military police

ANKARA: Hussein Khattab, a freelance reporter for the Arabic service of Turkey’s state-run broadcaster TRT, was assassinated in the Syrian city of Al-Bab on Dec. 12 by unidentified assailants on motorcycles.
Ammar Hamou, a well-known Syrian journalist, was a colleague and friend of the “fearless” 38-year-old reporter from when they worked together on Syrianvoice.org.
Hamou said it “was not the first time” that his friend was attacked in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo where he reported from.
“Hussein was seen as a threat from the regime, the opposition, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and he was an active journalist, documenting violations, regardless of the perpetrator. Unfortunately, he paid for this objective coverage with his life,” Hamou told Arab News.
Although Khattab was able to visit Turkey continuously, he preferred to remain a field reporter in his home country to report for several international and local outlets.
He was married with three children. Khattab was from Sefira village in the Aleppo countryside, which is under the control of Bashar Assad’s regime. However, in the past few years, the reporter lived in areas under Turkish control.
“From my point of view, Free Syrian Police and the local factions bear responsibility for his death because he recently filed a complaint fearing for his life, but local forces did not take his complaint into consideration, and the authorities did not provide him with protection he needed,” Hamou said.
Hamou added that his friend wrote a very emotional note on the criminal complaint: “I left my house for fear, while the killers were safe.”
Khattab was previously attacked in another district of Aleppo three months ago. He also survived another assassination attempt days before his death, but did not receive any protection following the attack. Any connection between the incidents is still being examined.

Al-Bab is a Turkish zone of influence, but Turkey leaves the administration of these areas to the Syrian military factions and the military police.

Ammar Hamou, Syrian journalist

Navar Saban, a military analyst at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies in Istanbul, said the reporter was well known in the area because of his detailed reports about the security situation in Al-Bab and relations with local factions that “behaved like warlords.”
Saban said: “The warlords in the region are a major problem that Turkey also knows very well. They are smuggling between Kurdish areas; they work for the regime and the SDF at the same time. Ensuring security in that zone is very difficult. Local police couldn’t have investigated the suspects whose names were revealed by the reporter just before his death,” said Saban.
The exploitation that evolving warlords cause in Syria through illegal operations is a well-known topic of debate in the region that is governed in a decentralized way. Although they are trained by Turkey, local authorities are still unable to manage the region efficiently amid the ongoing chaos of the civil war.
After being liberated from Daesh in February 2017, Al-Bab moved under the control of Turkey through Ankara-backed Syrian rebels and local law enforcement officers in the region.
“Al-Bab is a Turkish zone of influence, but Turkey leaves the administration of these areas to the Syrian military factions and the military police. The Syrians themselves are documenting daily violations of the law by local factions, and they feel that the factions cannot ensure security in the region,” Hamou said.
The city of Al-Bab, located near Turkish southern border, has recently suffered several terror attacks, with the detonation of a bomb-laden vehicle last month causing multiple casualties.
Separately, Turkey conducted a widespread operation against people allegedly connected with another warlord hailing from Iran.
A total of 13 people tied to Iranian drug lord Naji Sharifi Zindashti were arrested on Monday in a comprehensive operation by Turkish intelligence officers following the revelation of a plot to kidnap an Iranian opponent in Istanbul.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann recently suggested that “Syrian criminals” should be expelled from Germany and transferred to Turkish-controlled areas in northeastern Syria. His comments sparked widespread criticism.


Egyptian foreign minister urges recognition of Palestine in talks with EU envoy to Middle East

Updated 5 sec ago
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Egyptian foreign minister urges recognition of Palestine in talks with EU envoy to Middle East

  • Badr Abdelatty met in Cairo with Christophe Bigot, EU special representative for the Middle East peace process
  • Abdelatty’s remarks followed those of French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who said France is ‘determined to recognize the state of Palestine’

LONDON: Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Sunday emphasized the urgent need to recognize Palestinian statehood on the territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He made his comment during a meeting in Cairo with Christophe Bigot, the EU’s special representative for the Middle East peace process. Abdelatty said that the establishment of a Palestinian state is the only way to achieve lasting peace, security and stability in the region, the Wafa news agency reported.

He hoped for the broader international recognition of the Palestinian state and for the organization of an international conference aimed at resolving the Palestinian issue through peaceful means.

Abdelatty’s remarks followed those of French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who said on Sunday during an interview with the French LCI news channel that France is “determined to recognize the State of Palestine,” emphasizing the urgent need for international action in light of the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza.

A French-Saudi conference to drum up international support for the recognition of the state of Palestine was due to start in mid-June, but the organizers postponed it because of the Iranian-Israeli conflict and elevated tensions in the region.

“We are committed to recognizing the state of Palestine, and this will happen as part of a joint initiative that encourages all parties to create the necessary conditions for the establishment of that state,” Barrot said.

He called the killing of hundreds of Palestinian aid seekers by Israeli forces in recent weeks in Gaza “a disgrace and an affront to human dignity.”


Syria denies reports of assassination attempt on President Al-Sharaa

Updated 13 min 22 sec ago
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Syria denies reports of assassination attempt on President Al-Sharaa

  • SANA did not provide further details about the reported incident or its origins

DAMASCUS: Syria’s Ministry of Information on Sunday denied reports that an attempt was made on the life of interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa during a recent visit to the southern city of Daraa, Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

A ministry source, quoted by state news agency SANA on Sunday, dismissed the claims as false, saying: “What was circulated by several media outlets about the Syrian Arab Army and Turkish intelligence foiling an assassination attempt on President Ahmad Al-Sharaa during his visit to Daraa is untrue.”

SANA did not provide further details about the reported incident or its origins.

Al-Sharaa has led the Syrian Arab Republic’s transitional administration since January, following the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime. Assad, who ruled Syria for nearly a quarter of a century, fled to Russia in December.


Israeli security service says 60 Hamas members arrested in West Bank

Updated 29 June 2025
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Israeli security service says 60 Hamas members arrested in West Bank

HEBRON: Israel’s security service said Sunday it had broken up a network of Hamas militants in the occupied West Bank suspected of planning attacks, arresting 60 of the group’s members.
The Shin Bet internal security agency said in a statement that “a significant, complex, and large-scale Hamas infrastructure was exposed” in the West Bank town of Hebron.
It said it broke up 10 militant cells that “operated to carry out attacks in various formats in the immediate time frame.”
Hamas leaders “worked to recruit, arm, and train additional Hamas operatives from the area to carry out shooting and bombing attacks against Israeli targets,” according to the statement.
Shin Bet said the three-month joint operation with the military and police was its biggest investigation in the West Bank “in the past decade.”
It said terrorism charges were being filed against the suspects.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the statement.


US embassy in Bahrain returns to normal operations

Updated 29 June 2025
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US embassy in Bahrain returns to normal operations

The US Embassy in Bahrain said on Sunday that it has returned to normal staffing and operations, according to a post by the embassy on X.
Shortly before this month’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran, the US military had allowed families of service members in Bahrain to depart the country temporarily.


Gaza rescuers say Israeli forces kill 17, including children

Updated 29 June 2025
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Gaza rescuers say Israeli forces kill 17, including children

  • The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Sunday for parts of Gaza City and nearby areas in the territory’s north
  • Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,412 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians

Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli air strikes and gunfire killed at least 17 people including three children in the war-stricken Palestinian territory on Sunday.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that 16 people died in air strikes at five locations around the Gaza Strip, and another from Israeli fire near an aid distribution center.

The Israeli military said it was not able to comment on the reported incidents but said it was fighting “to dismantle Hamas military capabilities” in a campaign launched in 2023 against the Islamist militant group whose attack on Israel triggered the war.

Restrictions on media in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.

Bassal said two children were killed in an air strike on their home in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighborhood in the early morning, and “the house was completely destroyed.”

A member of the family, Abdel Rahman Azzam, 45, said he was at home and “heard a huge explosion at my relative’s house.”

“I rushed out in panic and saw the house destroyed and on fire,” he added.

“We evacuated more than 20 injured people, including two martyrs — two children from the family. The screams of children and women were non-stop,” Azzam said.

“They bombed the house with a missile without any prior warning. This is a horrific crime. We sleep without knowing if we will wake up.”

Elsewhere, Bassal said a drone strike on a tent housing displaced people near the southern city of Khan Yunis killed five people including a child.

He said that other casualties included a young man killed “by Israeli fire this morning while waiting for aid” near a humanitarian distribution center in the southern city of Rafah.

The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Sunday for parts of Gaza City and nearby areas in the territory’s north, warning of imminent action there.

The military “will operate with intense force in these areas, and these military operations will intensify and expand... to destroy the capabilities of the terrorist organizations,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a statement posted on X.

He told residents to “evacuate immediately south” to Al-Mawasi area on the coast.

The civil defense agency later said an Israeli air strike hit a house in Gaza City, killing three people.

Israel launched its offensive in October 2023 in response to the deadly Hamas attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,412 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.

After claiming victory in a 12-day war against Iran that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it would refocus on its offensive in Gaza, where Palestinian militants still hold Israeli hostages.