DAMASCUS, Syria – A Syrian journalist was killed Saturday while covering the army’s operations against Islamic State militants in the country’s central region, Syria’s official news agency said, the latest of dozens of journalists killed while covering the brutal conflict.
Wasim al-Nuqari, a 38-year-old war reporter, was killed in the eastern countryside of Homs province, SANA said. Al-Nuqari worked at Syrian TV for many years and had recently been working as a war reporter for the armed forces.
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Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said in a statement Saturday that al-Nuqari’s death is another “medal” of honour for the Syrian media, “which is a real partner of the army in facing the terrorist war against the country.”
The army has been battling IS militants near the villages of Mahin and Hawarin villages in southeast Homs.
More than 250,000 people have been killed in the nearly five-year-old conflict, including dozens of local and foreign journalists.
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On Saturday, Doctors Without Borders said a hospital near Damascus supported by the international medical charity was struck by missiles this week.
The hospital in the rebel-held town of Arbeen east of the Syrian capital was hit Thursday, approximately 30 minutes after the town came under aerial attack. Two missiles struck the entrance of the makeshift hospital, just as seven wounded people arrived for urgent treatment.
Two people were killed and six, including two medics, were wounded in the strike. The statement did not say who was responsible for the missile attack.
“MSF is appalled that a health structure and medical staff providing life-saving treatment to wounded victims of an indiscriminate bombing campaign are once again targeted,” Brice de le Vingne, Doctors Without Borders’ director of operations, said in a statement.
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