guardiancomment:

thepoliticalnotebook:

France 2 television station has confirmed that the journalist reported killed along with 8 Syrians in Homs this morning is one of their employees, Gilles Jacquier. Jacquier, pictured above in a photo from 2009 (AFP / Kenzo Tribouillard), is the first Western journalist to be killed in Syria since the beginning of the revolt and Assad’s brutal crackdown (although, of course, non-Western journalists have been killed).

[Le nouvel observateur, Le Figaro, AP]

Terrible, terrible news. According to our Middle East correspondent who is on the ground (@ian_black), the Homs attack that killed French journalist was “first described as mortars then changed to rocket-propelled grenade. Circs v unclear”.

Remember, these journalists put themselves in grave danger to tell you the stories you read. And sometimes they pay very difficult prices. Our thoughts are with the family, co-workers and friends of Gilles Jacquier this morning.