A Year on, Palestinians Mourn Slain Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

Pictures and other objects are displayed in memory of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, in the room that used to be her office at the Al Jazeera news channel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 9, 2023. (AFP)
Pictures and other objects are displayed in memory of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, in the room that used to be her office at the Al Jazeera news channel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 9, 2023. (AFP)
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A Year on, Palestinians Mourn Slain Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

Pictures and other objects are displayed in memory of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, in the room that used to be her office at the Al Jazeera news channel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 9, 2023. (AFP)
Pictures and other objects are displayed in memory of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, in the room that used to be her office at the Al Jazeera news channel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 9, 2023. (AFP)

A year after an Israeli bullet killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, her West Bank office remains almost untouched, but mourners' flowers have piled up in an adjacent room.

The Ramallah street where the news bureau is located has been renamed after her, and a new museum will soon honor her work and that of other reporters covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Fellow journalists say they still have not accepted the loss of Abu Akleh, 51, whose many years of fearless reporting had made her a household name across the Arab world.

Camera operator Majdi Bannoura, who was with her the day she died, said "despite the passing of a year since her death, I still don't believe that she is gone.

"Sometimes I feel that I'm living in a dream."

Walid al-Omari, the Qatari news channel's bureau chief for Jerusalem and Ramallah, said "Shireen's colleagues and I are unable to separate anything from Shireen's influence.

"So, we have kept the office as it was," he added, his voice breaking.

Abu Akleh died on May 11, 2022, while covering an Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The army would later admit one of its soldiers likely shot the reporter, who was wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest marked "Press", having mistaken her for a militant.

Her killing prompted a global storm of outrage and calls for an international investigation.

The anger flared further when Israeli police attacked mourners and pallbearers at her funeral in east Jerusalem.

Large murals have since been painted in honor of the journalist, including on the concrete wall Israel has built as part of its separation barrier with the West Bank.

'Evade responsibility'

Al Jazeera took her case to the International Criminal Court in December.

"We continue to work and to press for the prosecutor and the court to act and take a stand on this case," Omari said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists this week noted the Israeli military had taken no accountability for the killings of at least 20 journalists -- 18 of whom were Palestinian -- in the past two decades.

"The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh and the failure of the military's investigative process to hold anyone accountable is not an isolated case," said CPJ director Robert Mahoney.

He charged that the system "seems fashioned to evade responsibility".

In response to the CPJ report, the Israeli army said it "regrets any harm to civilians during operational activity" and that it considers "the professional work of journalists to be of great importance".

It added that the Israeli army "does not intentionally target noncombatants, and live fire in combat is only used after all other options have been exhausted".

Rodney Dixon, a lawyer appointed by Al Jazeera to take up Abu Akleh's case, has argued there was an attempt by Israel "to completely cover up" the circumstances of her death.

He described Abu Akleh's killing as part of a "systematic and large-scale campaign" against Al Jazeera, noting Israel's bombing of the channel's office in Gaza in 2021.

'A huge void'

In the year since her death, Abu Akleh has been memorialized by Palestinians, and the road where the office is located is now named Shireen Abu Akleh Street.

The cornerstone of a Shireen Abu Akleh Museum for Media will be laid during a ceremony in Ramallah on Thursday, one of a string of commemorative events.

Her brother Anton Abu Akleh said his family were still waiting for justice, speaking at a cultural event on Wednesday in Ramallah.

"During this past year we have gone through several stages, experiences and challenges as we try to obtain Shireen's rights, and achieve justice for her," he told the audience.

Bureau chief Omari said his slain star reporter "was not just a great journalist for Al Jazeera.

"She was a team on her own. It has left a huge void."



Syria's Aviation Comeback Struggles amid Regional Turmoil

An airport worker walks on the tarmac next to a Syrian Air plane at the Damascus International Airport on January 7, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
An airport worker walks on the tarmac next to a Syrian Air plane at the Damascus International Airport on January 7, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
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Syria's Aviation Comeback Struggles amid Regional Turmoil

An airport worker walks on the tarmac next to a Syrian Air plane at the Damascus International Airport on January 7, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
An airport worker walks on the tarmac next to a Syrian Air plane at the Damascus International Airport on January 7, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)

Poor infrastructure, regional conflict and sporadic Israeli airstrikes are holding back more airlines from returning to Syria, industry officials told Reuters, hampering efforts to rebuild a shattered economy after 14 years of civil war.

This month, at least 11 foreign airlines are scheduled to fly into Syria, up from just three a year ago, as sanctions are scaled back following the overthrow of long-time leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

These include the world's largest international carrier, Dubai's Emirates, and the first two European Union-based airlines to fly into Syria since 2011: Romania's Dan Air and Greece's Air Mediterranean, Reuters said.

But airlines such as Royal Jordanian, FlyDubai, Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways last month were forced to cancel many of their recently launched flights as airspace across the Middle East closed to civil air traffic due to air and missile attacks involving Israel, the US and Iran.

There are dangers closer to home too. Israel carried out strikes against Syrian government forces in southwestern Syria for a second day on Tuesday, vowing to keep the area demilitarized and to protect the Druze minority there.

At the same time, airlines are worried about the state of Syria's aviation infrastructure and management of the industry.

"Progress is needed in regulatory oversight, infrastructure investment, and compliance with international safety and operational standards," industry body the International Air Transport Association said.

Major carriers such as Lufthansa and Air France KLM, which used to fly to Syria pre-war, have visited Damascus airport to assess the infrastructure and former offices, officials at Damascus airport and Syria's aviation regulator told Reuters.

However, both airlines told Reuters they had no current interest in resuming flights.

Small Romanian airline Dan Air launched its Bucharest to Damascus route last month.

"What held back operators until now were the logistical and regulatory complexities," Dan Air CEO Matt Ian David told Reuters, adding that eased sanctions would now make Syria more accessible.

Emirates at the end of May resumed flying over Syria for the first time since the civil war, shaving up to an hour off a Dubai to Beirut flight.

However, several countries, including Britain and the United States, still advise their airlines to avoid flying over Syria. Europe's aviation regulator EASA says "there is a risk of both intentional targeting and misidentification of civil aircraft".

Syria completely reopened its airspace on June 24, its civil air authority said.

Damascus Airport's two runways were bombed during the civil war, but have been repaired. The airport was also looted during the chaos of Assad's fall.

Alaa Sallal, director of public relations at Syria's Civil Aviation Authority, told Reuters a number of airlines had been to inspect security and infrastructure at the airport.

"The airport's construction was dilapidated, the equipment was worn out and some missing," Sallal said.

Radar equipment was lacking, leaving the country reliant on Lebanese or Turkish radar to monitor air traffic, he said.

The head of Syria's General Authority for Civil Aviation earlier this month said it wanted to build new airports in Damascus, Aleppo and in the country's central region. But that will take time and money that the war-ravaged country may struggle to find on its own.

NEW AIRLINES

The mostly Iranian and Iraqi carriers that served Syria through its long conflict have largely stopped flying there, reflecting a new political landscape after Iran- and Russia-backed Assad's overthrow.

The flag carriers of Qatar and Türkiye, countries that backed Syria's rebels through the war, were the first big airlines to resume flights in January under President Ahmed al-Sharaa's new leadership.

Türkiye, a close ally of the new government, has been helping improve Syria's airports, its transport ministry has said.