Al-Obdaallah, 35, a reporter for the sports and culture
section of the state-owned daily Tishreen, was shot point-blank in his
home by Syrian security forces during a raid in the Nahir Eisha neighborhood of
Damascus, according to news
reports.
Al-Obdaallah also wrote and took photographs for local news
websites, Massoud Akko, president of the Media Freedom Committee of the Syrian
Journalists Association, told CPJ. He used the penname “Abu Saeed” to report on
the Syrian army’s offensives and the resulting civilian deaths, and also sent
photos to citizen journalists aligned with the opposition, Akko said. The
journalist reported on events in Damascus and in his hometown of Daraa, where
the Syrian uprising began in March 2011.
Al-Obdaallah’s friends said they believed the regime
discovered his reporting for local news websites and directly targeted him for
coverage seen as anti-government, Akko said. Al-Obdaallah graduated with a
journalism degree from Damascus University, news reports said.