4 Journalists Vanish in Syria

3 Spanish men were last seen in Aleppo
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 22, 2015 12:54 AM CDT
4 Journalists Vanish in Syria
Syrians gather between damaged buildings in the predominantly Christian and Armenian neighborhood of Suleimaniyeh in Aleppo after shelling earlier this year.   (AP Photo/SANA)

Three Spanish freelance journalists who traveled to Syria to report amid the country's long-running civil war have gone missing around the embattled northern city of Aleppo, a Spanish journalism association says, the latest ensnared in the world's most dangerous assignment for reporters. The disappearance of Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez, and Angel Sastre, presumed to be working together, comes as most media organizations have pulled out of Syria, especially with the rise of ISIS. Worries are also growing about the whereabouts of freelance Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda, who was last heard from one month ago in Syria.

ISIS, which has kidnapped Western journalists in Syria and later killed them, is outside Aleppo and controls parts of the countryside to the north and east. lsa Gonzalez, the president of the Spanish journalism association, told Spanish National Television that the three Spanish journalists disappeared while working in the Aleppo area. She said they entered Syria from Turkey on July 10. A statement from their families said the men had been missing since July 13. "An effort has been underway since then to search and locate them," the families said. Sastre, a television journalist, last posted on Twitter July 10, when he wrote "courage" in Arabic, English, and Spanish. (More Syria stories.)

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