Why did Ali Shabaan die in hail of bullets?
Tahsin Khayat and his son Karim are overwhelmed. Mr Shabaan's dad is Tahsin Khayat's driver. His sisters were cared for by Karim Khayat's sister and his brother-in-law. In Lebanon, companies really are families. The Khayat family's television station has always carried a Syrian "point of view" -- they were even allowed into the Syrian city of Deraa at the beginning of the Syrian revolution and their senior cameraman in Deraa was Mr Shabaan.
But why did Mr Shabaan die? He and his crew had passed the Lebanese customs at Wadi Khaled in northern Lebanon on Monday to film the border and shouted across to the Syrian immigration officers that they were filing for New TV on the Lebanese side of the frontier. His colleagues said after the crew had identified themselves, they began filming and were then told to stop by Syrian troops. These soldiers reportedly shouted: "Go back."
The crew was reversing its car when a fusillade of bullets crashed into it -- at least 40 hit the vehicle -- and Mr Shabaan was hit by the first round. NTV's staff is adamant that at no point did they enter Syrian territory. Thanks to the old post-war 1914-18 French mandate, the border was not delineated as carefully as it might have been, but that's no reason to kill journalists.
There was a range of feeling in Maifadoun yesterday. "We are with the Hezbollah when they fight Israel," one villager said, "but we are not with the Syrians when they kill their people." Ahmed Shabaan watched the body of his only son placed in the earth. Muslims out here have no coffins. And oh yes, Syria sent its official condolences. (© Independent News Service)
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/why-did-ali-shabaan-die-in-hail-of-bullets-3076670.html?
