French journalist badly wounded in Syria

A French news photographer was hit by shell fire and badly injured while covering a battle between regime and opposition forces near Idlib, northern Syria, on Thursday, media bodies reported here late on Friday. Reporters Without Borders (RWB) said that Olivier Voisin sustained head and arm injuries from shrapnel as he was covering an opposition "katiba" unit which was shelled. The journalist has been evacuated to an international hospital in the Turkish border city of Antakya. His condition was described as critical but stable after he underwent surgery and he has not yet regained consciousness, the press freedom organisation said. RWB earlier reported that 20 journalists had been killed in the two-year-old conflict in Syria and dozens of press professionals and "citizen journalists" have been arrested. Albeit to a lesser extent, RWB also criticized the actions of some opposition groups against journalists trying to cover the conflict. Two other French journalists have been killed in the past year while working in Syria.