Iran condemns Press TV correspondent killing in Syria

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the latest terrorist attacks in Syria, which led to the death of Press TV’s correspondent and injuring the bureau chief of Al-Alam television network.

“The mass media are working in the most difficult circumstances to reflect the realities and truth to the public opinion, and recourse to violence and terrorism can never prevent Syria’s realities from being revealed to people,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Wednesday.

Insurgents in the Syrian capital Damascus attacked the Press TV staff, killing the Iranian English-language news network’s correspondent, Maya Naser, and injuring Press TV and Al-Alam Damascus Bureau Chief Hosein Mortada.

Naser was shot and killed by a sniper, while Mortada, a Lebanese national, was shot in the back.

The two were covering twin bomb blasts, which targeted the military command building in the Syrian capital and killed at least four Syrian security forces.

Mehmanparast put the responsibility for such terror acts on countries who seek to thwart regional and international efforts to solve the crisis in the Arab country through political means without foreign intervention.

Born on July 30, 1979, in Syria, Maya Naser had studied political science, was fluent in Arabic and English and had worked in many countries including the US, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain.

Syria has been the scene of deadly unrest since mid-March, 2011 and many people, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals.