Syrian State Media Photographer Assassinated

Syrian sports photographer Ibrahim Ajaj, who had worked for the SANA state news agency under ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, has been assassinated.

Pakistani English-language newspaper The Frontier Post reports that, per the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Ajaj’s assassination is the first of a journalist who had worked for state media under Al-Assad. The British organization adds that the photographer was killed by “unidentified armed men.”

According to an anonymous relative of the photographer, he had received threats before his death.

Syria’s transitional government, led by Mohammed al-Bashir, has condemned the killing and says that it is working to determine the circumstances of Ajaj’s death and hold those responsible accountable.

“The information ministry condemns the assassination of photographer Ibrahim Ajaj, who works for the official SANA news agency, and affirms its full commitment to supporting freedom of the press and protecting journalists,” the transitional government said in a statement.

وزارة الإعلام #السورية تنعي المصور الصحفي الرياضي في وكالة سانا الرسمية ووكالة كورة، إبراهيم عجاج، الذي اغتيل على يد مجهولين في حماة. والوزارة تؤكد تعاونها مع وزارة الداخلية للإسراع في كشف ملابسات الجريمة ومحاسبة الجناة. pic.twitter.com/DRgtgKXWP3

— Diaa (@DyiaaIbrahim) January 23, 2025

SANA, the Syrian Arab News Agency, is a Syrian state-owned news agency established in 1965. During Assad’s regime, international news agencies described SANA as having a stake in supporting Assad. When Damascus fell on December 8, 2024, the news outlet went offline for a day before returning online bearing the symbol of the rebels who toppled Assad’s government, as France24 reported.

Those who had supported or otherwise participated in Assad’s rule have faced an uncertain future. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that multiple suspected supporters of Assad’s rule have been killed under the transitional government’s rule. It remains unclear to what extent, if any, Ajaj supported Assad or his government.

Ajaj’s family told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that two men had kidnaped the photographer, and his body was later found in Hama “riddled with bullets.”

It is not clear when Ajaj’s death will be added to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) data, but so far, there are four confirmed journalist deaths in 2025, all of which have occurred in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

There were 102 journalists killed in 2024, per CPJ, four of whom were in Syria. Across CPJ’s data, 52 photographers have been killed in Syria since 2012, at least eight of whom were explicitly murdered. The vast majority of photographer deaths in Syria have been the result of crossfire during conflict.

Image credits: Featured image shared by Syrian Network for Human Rights