Freelance cameraman Takieddin al-Hudhaifi was killed on May 26, 2017, in the Yemeni city of Taiz while covering fighting between Gulf-monarchy-backed forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and forces loyal to the Houthi militia and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, according to local officials, news reports, and the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate.
According to the website Elmaam.net, Al-Hudhaifi, 19, was on assignment for the Saudi government news channel Al-Akhbariya when he was killed, but had previously contributed to many media outlets, including the Qatari satellite channel Al Jazeera, according to his colleagues.
According to Takieddin’s father, Mohammed al-Hudhaifi, Takieddin was filming fighting near the front line in the eastern part of the city with several other freelance journalists when he was killed. Mohammed al-Hudhaifi quoted witnesses as saying that the group ran into a nearby building to take cover after being caught in crossfire, and that the building was subsequently hit by a shell. Al-Hudhaifi died at the scene, alongside Wael al-Absi, who was on assignment for Yemen’s official satellite TV channel.
Al-Hudhaifi, 19, was also injured while covering the country’s conflict in 2016, establishing a reputation among his colleagues for bravery. The young journalist, who was in his first year at Taiz University studying business administration, started taking video in 2011 with the uprising that forced Saleh from power when he just 13 years old, Aden News reported. According to Aden News, Al-Hudhaifi continued taking video after a Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign against Houthi militiamen and Saleh loyalists in 2015, though his father, who is also a journalist, discouraged it.