dpa mourns the death of Anas Alkharboutli

Berlin (ots)

Dpa photographer Anas Alkharboutli, who documented the civil war in Syria in a unique visual language, has been killed in an airstrike near the Syrian city of Hama. Anas was just 32 years old.The hope for a better future lives on in his photography.

Anas Alkharboutli joined dpa as a photographer in the Middle East in 2017. He reported primarily from the Syrian civil war zone. In the past few days, his pictures have been seen around the world, as Anas was reporting on the new flare-up of the civil war and the advance of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel alliance.

Ever close to the action, Anas Alkharboutli was known for his poignant imagery and tireless, collegial commitment as a photojournalist in Syria. Through his work, he managed to capture the complex stories of a country shattered by civil war in moving images.

“All of us at dpa are in shock and deeply saddened by the death of Anas Alkharboutli,” said dpa editor-in-chief Sven Gösmann. “We will honour his journalistic legacy. With his pictures, he not only documented the horrors of war, but always worked for the truth. Anas remains a role model for our work. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.”

Anas studied engineering at the University of Damascus, his hometown. He began his work as a photojournalist in 2015 and quickly made a name for himself with his photos and videos of the Syrian civil war. Anas had ten siblings; one of his five brothers was killed and another was abducted. His parents left the war-torn country years ago.

His outstanding photography has received multiple international awards. In 2020, Anas received the Young Reporter Trophy of France’s prestigious Bayeux Award for war reporting. At the 2021 Sony World Photography Awards, he won the sports category with an evocative photo series of children doing karate.

Anas has been laid to rest in Idlib.

About dpa

The German Press Agency (dpa) was founded in 1949 and is one of the world’s leading independent news agencies. dpa supplies media groups, companies and organisations with editorial content. This includes texts, photos, videos, graphics, radio reports and other formats. As an internationally active agency, dpa reports in seven languages. Approximately 1,000 journalists work from around 140 locations in Germany and abroad. Around 170 German media companies are dpa shareholders. The dpa editorial team works according to the principles laid down in the dpa statutes: independent of world views, commercial enterprises or governments. The central editorial office, headed by Editor-in-Chief Sven Gösmann, is located in Berlin. The executive board, headed by CEO Peter Kropsch, is based at the company’s headquarters in Hamburg. The chairman of the supervisory board is Daniel Schöningh (Ippen Media Group, Munich).