Sulaymaniyah, July 30, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists demands accountability in the killing of Suwayda 24 photojournalist Sari Majid Al-Shoufi, who went missing in the early hours of July 14, 2025, while covering armed clashes in the countryside near the southern Syrian city of Sweida. His death was confirmed on July 24 after several days of search efforts.
“Sari Al-Shoufi risked his life to document critical events in a region of Syria that has recently plunged into renewed violence,” said Doja Daoud, CPJ’s Levant program coordinator. “His killing is a stark reminder of the grave dangers journalists face in conflict zones. Syrian journalists deserve safety and accountability from Syrian authorities.”
Rayan Marouf, editor-in-chief of the Druze-focused Suwayda 24 website, told CPJ that Al-Shoufi was last heard from in the early hours of July 14 while reporting from a checkpoint in his home village of Taara, near Sweida. “He told us around 1 a.m. that he was safe and staying with local armed residents,” Marouf said.
At approximately 6 a.m., Al-Shoufi began sending urgent messages. “He said the site was under heavy attack by drones and armored vehicles, and that everyone around him had been killed,” Marouf told CPJ. “He was wounded and trying to surrender, but no one was responding to his calls.”
Marouf said he spoke to Al-Shoufi by phone at around 6:20 a.m. and kept the line open. “I heard continuous gunfire, then the call abruptly ended,” he said.
CPJ has documented cases of journalists being wounded, targeted by gunfire, robbed, and obstructed from accessing areas during the ongoing sectarian violence between Syrian government and tribal forces against the Druze. Al-Shoufi’s killing was the first journalist death in 2025 that CPJ has documented in Syria.
CPJ reached out via messaging apps to Mohammad Al-Saleh, a spokesperson at the Syrian ministry of information, to request comment but received no response.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.