In the crosshairs of reporting Syria – Channel 4′s Alex Thomson reflects

By Helena Williams

Syria independence flag behind a Free Syrian Army member (Flickr/FreedomHouse2)

An attack on a pro-government Syrian television station, in which seven staff were killed and 11 kidnapped, was a stark reminder, if one were needed, that journalists are high-value targets in conflict.

It is unclear who was behind the attack, which the Syrian government called “a massacre against freedom of the press”, but rebel or renegade army forces were top of the list of suspects.

Veteran British television correspondent Alex Thomson experienced the deadly dangers of covering Syria first hand – and learned some life-saving lessons about trust and treachery.

He believes members of the rebel Free Syrian Army set up him and his crew to be shot because “dead journos are bad for Damascus”.

“Journalists have high value as targets, there’s no getting away from that,” he said in an interview with INSI.

“Damascus got huge flack out of killing (American journalist) Marie Colvin. It was wrong, it was unfortunate, it was unforgivable – but I think both sides are capable of doing that.”

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