Al-Jazeera cameraman killed in Syria, says channel

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The cameraman was an activist in Daraa, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime first erupted in 2011.

Asfer’s father was killed in the early days of the uprising and his brother was later killed in regime air strikes on Daraa, Al-Jazeera said.

Asfer was himself wounded early in the uprising while covering clashes as a stringer for Al-Jazeera before officially joining the pan-Arab news channel.

“This is a sad day in the history of Al-Jazeera. We have lost a young man full of life and hope,” said Al-Jazeera General Manager Yasser Abu Hilala.

Asfer represented “a complete generation of Syrians who dream of freedom and dignity, and were banned by the regime even from the right to stay alive,” he said.

Four more Al-Jazeera journalists have been killed in Syria since the uprising began, most of them in Daraa province, the channel said.

At least 230,000 people have been killed since the conflict started.