Syrian 'citizen journalist' killed in Homs

Beirut: A Syrian activist and citizen cameraman who has been documenting the regime's assault on the city of Homs was killed in army shelling, a fellow activist said on Wednesday.

Rami Al Syed, who provided live footage on the Internet from the besieged rebel-held district of Baba Amr, was killed late Tuesday when a rocket hit a car in which he was travelling, said Homs-based activist Hadi Abdullah.

He was hit "while taking a family to the makeshift hospital," said Abdullah of the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution, adding that Sayyed died after bleeding for more than two hours.

On Wednesday, Syed was hailed as the "eye of the revolution" by the Syrian opposition.

"The traitorous hands of the gangs of [Bashar Al] Assad assassinated yesterday one of the main media activists, Rami al-Sayyed, who reported the truth" from Baba Amr, the Syrian National Council said in a statement.

A video posted on the Internet showed couple of medics trying desperately to save his life at a makeshift hospital.

"Come on my friend! Wake up, so that you can go on filming," a medic told the dying Syed. "He was targeted because he documented the crimes of Bashar Al Assad," he said.

Syed, 26, was married and the father of a toddler daughter, Abdullah said.

"Today there will be no live broadcast because Rami is gone," added the activist, who said the citizen journalist was a personal friend.

Due to tight restrictions imposed by Syrian authorities on journalists, hundreds of civilians risk their lives using their personal cameras to document the protests and the authorities' deadly crackdown.

Earlier this month, Mazhar Tayyara - another activist and citizen journalist who was also known as "Omar the Syrian" - was killed in shelling of Homs.