Shireen Abu Akleh: Syrian artists paint mural in tribute to slain Palestinian journalist

Syrian artists paid tribute to slain Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by creating a mural depicting the scene where Israeli troops killed her in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

Aziz Al-Asmar, 50, and Anis Hamdoun painted 51-year-old Abu Akleh lying face down, blood dripping from a gunshot wound to her head and helmet and press vest clearly visible, as she could be seen in video footage captured at the scene of her death.

Abu Akleh was covering an Israeli security raid in Jenin refugee camp when she was fired upon, and the Idlib province mural shows the veteran reporter bleeding into a camera lens.

"We painted the image of the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh because, in our minds, she is a voice of truth that exposes Israel's crimes against the Palestinians," Al-Asmar told The New Arab.

"She was inside Syrian homes for 25 years through her reporting of events in Palestine.

"The mural conveys a message to the world that it must protect journalists from physical attacks and arrest – whether by the Israelis in Palestine or the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, which has killed and arrested dozens of Syrian journalists."

The mural features blood dripping from plants near where Abu Akleh lays, and teardrops falling from an eye painted next to the date of her death.

Text reading "Farewell Shireen Abu Akleh" in bloody letters bids goodbye to a reporter who had worked for pan-Arab network Al Jazeera since 1997.

The mural, painted on Wednesday with finishing touches added on Thursday, also depicts fellow media worker Shatha Hanaysha hiding behind a tree.

A video showed the Quds News Network journalist trapped in place, unable to reach Abu Akleh as Israeli forces continued firing at those trying desperately to rescue the downed correspondent.

The pair were eventually brought to safety but Abu Akleh, a US-Palestinian dual national, was later pronounced dead.

Located in the town of Banash, the mural is painted on the side of a home destroyed by bombing from Syrian regime warplanes.

It also features a separate depiction of Abu Akleh, smiling and in her media uniform with a Palestinian flag behind her.

Al-Asmar and Hamdoun have painted other murals in the past – for George Floyd, occupied East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, Syria and more.

A mural they painted in solidarity with Ukraine and in opposition to Russia's brutal invasion was covered widely in international media.