Female Syrian TV reporter killed

Reporter killed worked for Al-Ikhbariya Damascus - Arabstoday A reporter for Syrian state television station Al-Ikhbariya has been killed while covering an army assault on the rebel stronghold of Qusayr, Syrian state television said on Monday. "The ministry of information... announces that colleague Yara Abbas has been added to the ranks of the martyrs, killed by terrorists near Dabaa airport," north of Qusayr, it said in a breaking news alert. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog also reported Abbas's death, saying she "was killed by a sniper close to Dabaa airport". The group said other members of Abbas's crew were wounded, without providing further details. The Syrian army, backed by fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, began an assault on the rebel stronghold of Qusayr on Sunday May 19. Both the rebels and the regime view the town in central Homs province as a key strategic prize, because it lies near the Lebanese border and by the road connecting Damascus to the coast.