TV reporter killed in Syria violence

Government claims rebels attacked Yara Abbas who worked for state-owned station

A car burns at a site hit by shelling in Arbaeen, near Damascus. A well-known journalist working for Syrian state TV has been killed by rebels as violence continues in the country, the information ministry said. Photograph: Diaa Al-Din/Shaam News Network/Reuters.
A car burns at a site hit by shelling in Arbaeen, near Damascus. A well-known journalist working for Syrian state TV has been killed by rebels as violence continues in the country, the information ministry said. Photograph: Diaa Al-Din/Shaam News Network/Reuters.

Syrian rebels have killed a TV correspondent who was covering clashes near the border with Lebanon, according to the Syrian information ministry.

Officials said Yara Abbas, a prominent female war reporter for state-owned Al-Ikhbariyah TV, was attacked near the military air base of Dabaa in the central province of Homs.

Dabaa air base is near the town of Qusair, which has been under attack by government forces and members of Lebanon’s Hizbullah group since last week. Dozens of rebels, troops and gunmen have been killed in the heavy fighting.

Several journalists covering both sides of Syria’s conflict have been killed since the crisis began in March 2011.