International press body condemns deaths of 5 Syrian journalists

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has declared December a deadly month for Syrian journalists as five more journalists died in the first half of the month.
"The safety of Syrian journalists is critical. The deaths of foreign correspondents in recent months has had a profound impact on the world's journalists community, but the sacrifices of Syrian journalists are just as great and their deaths just as shocking," said Jim Boumelha, IFJ President, in a statement here Thursday. "The IFJ will continue to do all it can to improve the safety of our colleagues in Syria," he said.
On December 8, two journalists and their cameraman working for the Syrian opposition TV station Orient News were killed while heading to cover the aftermath of clashes in Dara province.
The fourth one died in the same area. Mahran al Deiry, reporter of al Jazeera.Net, was killed last Wednesday evening while traveling with the lights of his car off to avoid being targeted. Lastly, Abdul Rahman Abu Batra was killed on December 5 by ISIL at the city of Lattakia, North-West Syria. He worked as a speaker and journalist at Syrian Al Shaab TV.
The statement noted that it will be participating this weekend in the congress of the Syrian Journalists Association in Turkey where the subject of safety will be top of the agenda.
According to the IFJ, Syria remains as one of the most dangerous countries for media workers.
The Brussels-based IFJ represents more than 600, 000 journalists in 134 countries.