Two screenshot from the Russian documentation Battle for Syria (with English subtitles) on the war on Syria that I linked yesterday.The appear at 0:45 and 0:46 into the film.
It shows the back of a journalist reporting from the government side. He had been lucky. A shot had hit the center of the backside of his body armor but did not penetrate it. It seems pretty obvious that this had been a targeted shot, likely by a sniper.
Today more journalists were shot in Syria:
A corespondent for Iran's Press TV was shot dead on Wednesday while reporting from the scene of devastating twin explosions in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Maya Nasser, a 33-year-old Syrian national, was killed after being hit by "insurgent" sniper fire, Press TV said.
The channel's Damascus bureau chief, Hussein Murtada, who also worked for the Arabic-language Al-Alam TV network, was injured after coming under attack, the channel said. […] Murtada was reportedly shot in the back.
Shooting journalist in the back seems to be a modus operandi of these insurgents.
This video shows Maya Nasser this morning at the 0:19 time mark. He and other colleagues had rushed to the scene of the bombing. Maya Nasser went without body armor.
A while ago I had a few exchanges with him on Twitter. On his twitter page he has this motto:
its not our job to protect the religion from the grip of the state, its our job to protect the state from the grips of the religious radicalism
Back in July Maya Nasser wrote a Night in Damascus which ended with this:
Bottom line is; my people are dying and I am still in the line waiting my turn.
Your wait is over Maya.
Rest in peace.
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad reports from the insurgent side. Yesterday a piece by him described how the insurgents torture people, with the obvious result:
Three days later, I met one of the men who had been torturing the young man. He had a sorry look on his face.
"All the names he gave us were fake. Those people don't exist. Now the Islamists have taken him. They are interrogating him and they are not letting anyone else see him."
It is unlikely that the boy will survive that ordeal.
Another piece by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad follows the way the insurgents get their ammunition. The CIA is supervising, the Turks are organizing and the Qataris are paying for it. He then reports from the fighting in Aleppo and includes a vignette of an allegedly defected major:
He turned to Abu Mohamed. "You know when you are in the middle of battle and mortars start slamming the earth around you, you forget all your fears and there is a strange joy and happiness. I am so happy when I am fighting," he said, his eyes sparkling.
The next day found Abu Hussein and Abu Mohamed hugging and weeping like children in the shadow of Aleppo's castle. The quirky and affectionate major lay dead next to them. A single sniper bullet had entered his neck. There was a splash of blood on his right cheek.
War kills people. If not physically then mentally, even generals:
Sorrow now takes centre stage in my mind. Irrational anger simmers, bursting out at the slightest provocation. I see the at the indifference of most Australians to the efforts of our troops overseas. Anxiety stalks me. At shopping centres, I feel threatened, surrounded by unseen dangers. I find myself moving towards the walls of crowded spaces to protect my back. I look for exits and places to take cover. The hyper-awareness that had me flinching at unexpected noises now becomes a disabling compulsion – I jump at any sudden noise. One day we are on a train to Melbourne and the conductor behind me calls out, "Tickets, please!" I jerk in terror, throwing up my arms defensively and emitting a cry of fear. Several people laugh. To my total humiliation, I start to weep.
Its the people who start wars that should be killed or at least should have to fight PTSD. How come they are the ones that most likely survive the wars they start without any damage?