Prominent Syrian activist shot dead in Turkey

Syrian media activist Mahmoud Orabi was shot dead by masked gunman in front of his home in Turkey yesterday, according to Syrian opposition news agency Zaman Al-Wasl.

The shooter, who was riding a motorbike, opened fire on Orabi at around 15:00 (local time) yesterday. He was hit by three bullets at close range and died in hospital. Turkish police have since taken control of the area outside of his house, located in the south of the country.

Syrian media activist Mahmoud Orabi from Homs, shot dead today in southern Turkey. He was also reportedly the victim of an assassination attempt in April last year, accusations surfaced at the time that the Nusra front was behind it. #Syria pic.twitter.com/aMfEfe9imA

— Rami Jarrah (Alexander Page) (@RamiJarrah) November 9, 2017

This is the second time that Orabi has been targeted by unknown assailants; he previously survived an assassination attempt in April of last year. His brother, Zaid Daaboul also revealed that Orabi, who had been arrested by the Syrian regime early on in the revolution, had received numerous death threats due to his activism from Turkey.

Whilst it is unclear who is behind the attack, Orabi previously told Zaman Al-Wasl that he suspected he was a target from those “people who count themselves on the [Syrian] revolution”.

Orabi is not the first Syrian activist to be targeted in Turkey. In September prominent opposition activist, 60-year-old Dr Orouba Barakat and her 22-year-old journalist daughter Halla, were found murdered in Turkey allegedly by members of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s security forces.

Read: Syria filmmaker planned his own murder attempt to get ‘media hype’