First, from a baseline of relative safety, the security situation for journalists deteriorated rapidly once the conflict began. (In the two decades before the 2011 uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, CPJ [the Committee to Protect Journalists] had not documented a single journalist death in the country; the following year, it ranked No. 1 in journalist deaths).

Second, both sides of the conflict have specifically singled journalists out for violence. Assad’s regime – already notorious for suppressing media freedom – was the first to target journalists reporting on the civil war. In the early days of the uprising, Syrian authorities began arresting local reporters covering the anti-government protests. Then, in 2012, when Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in a rocket attack carried out by the Syrian army, the Telegraph reported that the Syrian Army may have specifically targeted the journalists after tracking their satellite phone signals to a particular building. Soon after, CPJ confirmed that satellite phone tracking was being widely used by military and security forces …

Journalist abductions are also increasingly a problem in Syria. According to CPJ, 60 journalists have been kidnapped since the start of war – most likely taken by opposition groups – with 30 still missing. In most cases, the kidnappers don’t ask for ransom, but are looking to mete out their version of “justice.”