Fate of missing Lebanese cameraman remains unknown

By Edward Haddad

BEIRUT (AA) – The family of a Lebanese cameraman who has gone missing in war-torn Syria are waiting for any information about his fate.

Samir Kassab, a cameraman for the Dubai-based Sky News Arabia, went missing with his colleagues in Syria in 2013 amid reports that he has been abducted by the Daesh terrorist group.

On Friday, private Lebanese channel LBC quoted Kassab’s father as saying that he was told by Lebanese ministry that his son had been killed in Syria.

The report, however, was quickly denied with the authorities saying that there was no information about the cameraman’s fate.

“There is inaccurate information being circulated about the fate of Kassab,” a family member, who preferred to remain unnamed, told Anadolu Agency on Saturday.

He said the fate of the abductees remains unknown although that all Daesh strongholds in Syria had been dismantled.

“This means that all scenarios remain on the stable,” he said, in reference that Kassab may be still alive.

He went on to call on the Lebanese authorities to exert further efforts to know the fate of the missing cameraman.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.