Terrorist attack hit state television building in Damascus

Five mortar shells have struck the building of the state-run Syrian Education TV network in downtown Damascus, but there were no reports of casualties.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the SANA news agency that foreign-backed militants fired five projectiles at the building in the Barzaa neighborhood of Damascus on Tuesday, causing material damage to the structure.

On August 6, 2012, a bomb exploded on the third floor of a Syrian state television and radio building in Damascus, injuring several members of the staff.

State television reported on December 22 that one of its cameramen, Haidar al-Sumudi, had been shot the previous evening outside his home in Damascus.

The incident brought the death toll for Syrian professional and citizen journalists to 41 in 2012, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

In September 2012, Press TV correspondent Maya Naser was killed by a sniper while reporting on air in Damascus.

Hosein Mortada, who serves as the Damascus bureau chief for two Iranian networks, the English-language Press TV and the Arabic-language Al-Alam, was injured in the same attack.

The two journalists were covering the aftermath of a twin bombing that had targeted a military complex in Damascus.

The Syria crisis began in mid-March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

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