BEIRUT: Syrian journalist Bakr Al-Kassem, who works with media outlets including AFP, has been released a week after pro-Turkiye factions detained him in rebel-held northern Syria, he told AFP on Tuesday.
“I was released late Monday and I am well. I am now with my family,” said Kassem, 28.
“I will return to my work as a journalist as soon as possible.”
Local police from pro-Turkiye factions detained Kassem on August 26 in the city of Al-Bab, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Turkish border.
He had been covering an event in the city with his wife Nabiha Taha, who is also a journalist.
Taha was released shortly afterwards and said their house was searched and Kassem’s computer, cameras and mobile phone were confiscated.
Kassem said he was questioned about his work as a journalist in areas controlled by Ankara-backed factions, and that no official charges were brought against him.
“We are relieved that Bakr has been freed and we thank all the colleagues and organizations that expressed their solidarity with him during his detention,” said AFP’s Global News Director Phil Chetwynd.
“We hope that he will be able to resume his work without any restrictions.”
Kassem has worked as a photographer and correspondent for AFP since 2018 covering Syria’s civil war, as well as a deadly earthquake in February 2023 in which he lost 17 family members.
He has also worked for Turkiye’s official Anadolu news agency and local Syrian media outlets.
AFP, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) had called for his immediate release.
RSF in a statement on X welcomed “the good news” of Kassem’s release, saying it was “relieved” he was free, but noting “72 reporters remain detained or missing in Syria.”
The country is ranked second-last in the world on RSF’s press freedom index.
Local journalists and activists had organized sit-ins in the region demanding Kassem be freed, some holding signs reading “journalism is not a crime.”
Syria’s war began after the repression of anti-government protests in 2011 and spiralled into a complex conflict drawing in foreign armies and jihadists, killing more than 500,000 people and displacing millions.
Turkish troops and Turkiye-backed rebel factions control swathes of northern Syria, and Ankara has launched successive cross-border offensives since 2016.
Journalist working for AFP released by pro-Turkiye Syria factions
https://arab.news/nv84s
Journalist working for AFP released by pro-Turkiye Syria factions
- Bakr Al-Kassem was detained for questioning by authorities, but no official charges were filed against him
Bondi Beach attack hero says wanted to protect ‘innocent people’
DUBAI: Bondi Beach shooting hero Ahmed Al Ahmed recalled the moment he ran toward one of the attackers and wrenched his shotgun away, saying the only thing he had in mind was to stop the assailant from “killing more innocent people.”
Al-Ahmad’s heroism was widely acclaimed in Australia when he tackled and disarmed gunman Sajid Akram who fired at Jewish people attending a Hanukkah event on December 14, killing 15 people and wounding dozens.
“My target was just to take the gun from him, and to stop him from killing a human being’s life and not killing innocent people,” he told CBS News in an interview on Monday.
“I know I saved lots, but I feel sorry for the lost.”
In footage viewed by millions of people, Al Ahmed was seen ducking between parked cars as the shooting unfolded, then wresting a gun from one of the assailants.
He was shot several times in the shoulder as a result and underwent several rounds of surgery.
“I jumped in his back, hit him and … hold him with my right hand and start to say a word like, you know, to warn him, ‘Drop your gun, stop doing what you’re doing’,” Al Ahmed said.
“I don’t want to see people killed in front of me, I don’t want to see blood, I don’t want to hear his gun, I don’t want to see people screaming and begging, asking for help,” Al Ahmed told the television network.
“That’s my soul asked me to do that, and everything in my heart, and my brain, everything just worked, you know, to manage and to save the people’s life,” he said.
EXCLUSIVE: Ahmed al Ahmed, the man hailed as a hero for tackling one of the gunmen behind an antisemitic attack on Australia's Bondi Beach earlier this month, is speaking out in the aftermath of the massacre.
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 28, 2025
"I know I saved lots, but I feel sorry still for the lost." pic.twitter.com/gFUfJvv7c6
Al Ahmed was at the beach getting a cup of coffee when the shooting occurred.
He is a father of two who emigrated to Australia from Syria in 2007, and works as a fruit seller.
Local media reported that the Australian government has fast-tracked and granted a number of visas for Al Ahmed’s family following his act of bravery.
“Ahmed has shown the courage and values we want in Australia,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement.
One of the gunmen, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen, remains in custody on charges including terrorism and 15 murders, as well as committing a “terrorist act” and planting a bomb with intent to harm.
(with AFP)
