Injured Journalists In Syria May Get Help From Red Cross

GENEVA (AP) — The Red Cross said Friday it is trying to reach foreign journalists who were wounded during fighting in the Syrian city of Homs.

French journalists Edith Bouvier and William Daniels have asked for help leaving the embattled city after Bouvier was wounded in shelling Wednesday that killed American-born veteran war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

The Geneva-based aid group "is attempting to reach all persons affected by the ongoing violence including the wounded journalists in Homs," International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Hicham Hassan said.

The Red Cross has appealed to Syria's government and opposition groups to allow daily two-hour cease-fires so it can deliver relief supplies and evacuate the wounded and sick.

Colvin and Ochlik were among a group of journalists who had crossed into Syria illegally and were sharing accommodations with activists, raising speculation that government forces targeted the makeshift media center where they were staying. But opposition groups had previously described the shelling as indiscriminate.

A Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman has offered condolences to the families of Colvin and Ochlik, but rejected any responsibility for their deaths. The spokesman urged foreign journalists to respect Syrian laws and not to sneak into the country.

In Turkey on Friday, dozens of journalists denounced the killing of Colvin and Ochlik, with reporters and photographers from several media organizations staging a protest outside Syria's embassy in Ankara. They carried banners that read: "Don't kill journalists," and "Don't kill the truth."

The U.N. estimates that 5,400 people have been killed in repression by the Assad regime against a popular uprising that began 11 months ago. That figure was given in January and has not been updated. Syrian activists put the death toll at more than 7,300. Overall figures cannot be independently confirmed because of Syria's tight control on the media.

Comments

[RomeoMD25]

05:03 PM on 02/24/2012

let’s face it….there are no more journalists working for CNN or BBC or any of the facists globalists corporate propaganda “news” media…………………we correctly assume that they are just liars, fabricators and dis-information agents………………it’s hard to feel sorry for them………

[bonactor]

09:18 PM on 02/25/2012

What you don't know is a lot. These journalists have been brutally tortured. Enjoy the rest of your evening, commenting in your bathrobe. Abstract away...

PS--Whenever one says "hard to feel sorry" about anyone--much less people risking their lives--it's a huge reg flag-

[Jim Nipe]

02:29 PM on 02/24/2012

A noble sentiment, but I doubt many top-level women journalists are going to balk at the idea of removing themselves from harm's way when they believe there's a story that must be told.

[RomeoMD25]

09:57 AM on 02/24/2012

Syria Update 23 feb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_og7vN61tMA

Homs has been the stronghold of the Syrian opposition for many months, really a no go area for the Syrian Military, but in this past week they have retaken it, and suffered losses.

[yaskan]

08:22 PM on 02/24/2012

Shame on you, you are defending the CRIMINAL,Assad regime.
You are spreding all those LIES ,and PROPAGANDA for the regime that is well known for his CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.

[mater]

09:29 AM on 02/24/2012

Maybe in nations, which don't have respect for their own women, foreign females journalists need to think if they are the only conduit for telling a story which needs to be told. Lara Logan was raped and assaulted; others have been killed, kidnapped and restrained, as well as injured. As difficult for the men journalists and photographers to cover all this chaos and death, maybe the women are not safe enough to justify their work at this time. Not very feminist, but maybe some modified reason is not out of the pale.