Syria - Rebels kidnap two Iraqi Kurdish journalists in northeastern Syria

Reporters Without Borders condemns the abduction of two young Iraqi Kurdish journalists, reporter Farhad Hamo and photographer Massoud Aqeel, in a mainly Kurdish part of northeastern Syria on 15 December.

Rudaw, a TV station based in Iraqi Kurdistan, said Islamic State fighters kidnapped them on the road between Qameshli and Til Kocher, in the Rojava region, where they had been for the past few days on assignment for Rudaw.

Reporters Without Borders demands their immediate release and calls on all belligerents to respect the protection that international law accords to journalists operating in war zones.

In the 2014 Round-up that it released yesterday, Reporters Without Borders said 27 journalists had been kidnapped in the past 12 months in Syria, which continues to be the world’s deadliest country for media personnel.

The territory that Islamic State controls in Iraq and Syria is one of the world’s five deadliest areas for journalists.