Sky News journalist Alex Crawford and her camera crew have been targeted by Syrian forces while covering the conflict in the Idlib province, according to dramatic video of the journalists being shot at.
Crawford wrote in an article for Sky News that she and her team of five journalists had been filming a burning armoured vehicle in the town of al-Habit when a bullet hit the machine.
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The crew said military drones were first used to pinpoint their location.
“We had suddenly become the new targets,” she wrote. She added that the news team was clearly identified as press when the attack took place.
Crawford, her producer Martin Vowles and two Syrian activists began running back to their vehicle to take cover. One of the two civilian activists who were with the news crew at the time of the attack was hit with shrapnel and later taken to hospital.
According to Crawford, the attack was a violation of international standards.
“We were with two civilian political activists when our small group of five was tracked, targeted and fired upon by regime forces helped by Russian airpower as they bombarded Al Habit town in the countryside of Idlib,” Crawford’s article read.
A ceasefire, brokered by Russia and Turkey last year, is supposed to be in place, meaning Al Habit should be a battle-free area. Crawford said the demilitarized zone had been breached multiple times. Idlib is the last rebel stronghold in Syria.
Sky News is reporting that an estimated 700,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the last few weeks.
— With a file from the Associated Press.
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