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Most known satirist in Syria’s revolution has been abducted by the Islamic rebels in Aleppo, activists said.
Abdul-Wahhab al-Mula, media activist and artist who worked for Aleppo Media Center (SCM) was kidnapped with his colleagues in Aleppo rebel-held areas, the media center said in a statement.
Mulla has criticized both Bashar al-Assad's regime and the armed opposition practices in the war-torn city of Aleppo. He shed the light on the mounting abuses of the Islamist rebels recently in his YouTube show, 3-star Revolution what outbreaks outrages against him between some rebel advocates, Zaman Alwasl reporter said.
SCM denounced Mula’s kidnapping stated that the rebel command in Aleppo is shoulder the responsibility of protecting the Journalists and media activists.
Journalists in Syria have been killed by snipers, accused of spying, and kidnapped by gunmen, and with the threats growing, many say the conflict is now too dangerous to cover.
The risks have increased the challenge of reporting from the country, which was already difficult because of violence, regime visa restrictions and propaganda on both sides.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says at least 25 professional journalists and 70 citizen journalists have been killed in the conflict.
But for many reporters, the bigger fear comes from abductions, which have been on the rise in the Syria conflict.
RSF says at least 16 foreign journalists are missing in Syria, although many cases have not been made public at the request of their families.
Among those kidnapped is James Foley, a US freelance journalist who worked for outlets including AFP and GlobalPost, and disappeared on November 22. He turns 40 on October 18.
The conflict has been difficult to cover since it erupted with an uprising against al-Assad in March 2011.
The government has handed out media visas sparingly, and movement is largely restricted to regime-held areas.
As a result, journalists covering the rebel side have entered the country through borders with Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
Though journalists have been killed while reporting from the regime side, most deaths and kidnappings have been among those behind rebel lines.
Sherif Mansour of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the threat has evolved.
"In the beginning we only saw journalists being kidnapped by the government but later we began to see the opposition becoming increasingly involved," he told AFP.
"The kidnappings now are not just for political reasons, but also for financial reasons. We have also seen groups that are specifically targeting journalists, accusing them of being spies."
In recent months, jihadist messages posted online have warned that journalists are seeking to provide information "to their masters" about the types of weapons being used by Islamists.
The situation has got progressively worse, according to one freelancer who has been covering the conflict since December 2011.
"To enter (rebel-held) Syria now you need to move under the protection of a rebel battalion that has good relations with the radical Islamists," he said to AFP.
"Otherwise you could be kidnapped by any of the various groups operating in Idlib, Raqqa or Aleppo."
On his most recent trip, he and his colleagues worked under the protection of eight armed members of a rebel brigade, which allowed them to pass through ISIL checkpoints without being stopped.
They paid $300 a day to the men, who on two occasions intervened to protect them when they were approached by ISIL fighters.
He said there are also reports that ISIL is offering a reward to anyone who turns over a journalist to them.
The deteriorating conditions have prompted many international media organisations to suspend sending reporters to rebel-held areas.
"Most journalists are saying for now that it is too risky to go to Syria, though many of them want to go and feel that they should," said RSF's Soazig Dollet to AFP.
And some media groups now advise foreign reporters to stay out of Syria.
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