Syria hands over bodies of 2 Iraqi journalists

The Iraqi authorities have officially received the bodies of two Iraqi journalists who were killed earlier in Damascus while doing their job. A source in al-Waleed border crossing told Arabstoday that the Iraqi authorities received on Monday the bodies of two journalists. Ali Jabouri Abd al-Kaabi the chief editor of the weekly newspaper Alrawaa, was killed in an armed attack in Jaramana area (north Damascus) on Saturday evening. Freelance journalist Falah Taha was covering clashes between the Syrian armed forces and the Syrian free army. The source said identity cards of Iraqi newspapers and unions and associations to which the Iraqi journalists belonged, were attached to the bodies of the two journalists. The Iraqi authorities say they have dealt with the bodies of the journalists with respect and transferred them to the capital accompanied in a military unit. The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory had earlier called on Iraqi journalists not to go to Syria. It also called on journalists who are in Syria to regularly check in with the Iraqi embassy in Damascus.