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.