Spain to seek Syrian government help to find journalists

The three journalists had worked recently for various media including Spanish newspapers La Razon and ABC, which was the first on Tuesday to report their disappearance.

The Spanish Federation of Journalists’ Association identified the men as Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre, and said that they had not been heard from for several days.

Spanish officials say they are trying to establish what happened to three freelance journalists who went missing around the embattled northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

In 2013 three other Spanish journalists were seized by Daesh. They were last seen on July 13 but it’s not yet clear if they have been kidnapped.

Elsewhere in the war-battered country, the Syrian army and its allies from Lebanon s Shiite militia Hezbollah captured more territory inside Zabadani, the last rebel-held town on the two countries border, the Observatory said.

Meanwhile, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Jumpei Yasuda hasn’t been heard from since a series of tweets on June 20, some of which reference Syria.

A year ago, the terrorist group broadcast a graphic video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley, who was abducted by ISIL in Syria in November 2012. The extremist group has also ransomed European journalists. While most victims are local journalists, at least 12 global correspondents have been killed in the course of the war, according to CPJ research.

Al Nusra, which controls the pumping station in a rebel-held district, had cut off supplies to pressure the government to restore electricity to areas under its control.

Damascus, July 21 (IANS) At least 21 people, including children and women, were killed on Tuesday in military airstrikes in Syria’s Aleppo city.

The four-year conflict in Syria has killed more than 220,000 people, and has been the scene of killings and kidnappings by hard-line militants, including that earlier this year of freelance Japanese journalist Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, who ran his own security company.