Veteran Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford has said her and her production team were “deliberately targeted” by the Syrian government this week while reporting on the frontline.

Crawford had been covering the battle between Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters and regime forces in the town of Habit in Idlib - the rebels’ final stronghold - when the area was hit on Wednesday afternoon.

None of the team was injured. However, an independent American journalist and activist Bilal Abdul Kareem who had been travellng with them was lightly wounded by shrapnel.

In a video released by Sky News on Thursday, Crawford and a videographer can be seen running through smoke after a strike. </s> Syrian regime forces mounted a tank attack against a group of journalists and civilians in Idlib province, Sky News reported.

Dramatic footage captured the moment Sky’s special correspondent Alex Crawford and her colleagues were fired upon by a “T-72 Russian battle tank” in the abandoned countryside town of Al Habit.

The five-strong group were “tracked, targeted and fired upon by regime forces helped by Russian airpower”, Ms Crawford wrote in a report on the Sky News website.

As the crew fled the blast, the shelling continued as they were tracked by a drone, she said.

Ms Crawford said one of the crew was wearing a flak jacket with clear press markings and the other was carrying a “clearly marked green medical trauma pack”.

The journalists, who also included Sky producer Martin Vowles, were with two civilian political activists, both wearing jeans and t-shirts.

One of the activists, Bilal Abdul Kareem, who is from New York but moved to Syria three years ago, was injured by shrapnel during the attack and footage showed blood from the wound soaking through his white t-shirt.

Ms Crawford said: “The area we were in was deserted as all the civilians had fled.

“We were spotted by a military drone and then repeatedly shot at with what we believe were 125mm shells probably fired from a T-72 Russian battle tank.

“As we retreated to leave the area, the targeting of us continued.

“Even when we withdrew to the nearby town, Khan Shaykhun, some 10km away, the shelling followed us there and continued.

“They were all clear violations of the normal standards of operation in a battle zone.

“We had just been filming a burning armoured vehicle in an area where there had clearly been fresh fighting when a bullet came in, hitting the metal on the vehicle.

“We had suddenly become the new targets.”

She added: “The intentional targeting of journalists is also a breach of international standards.”

During the assault Ms Crawford was wearing a black abaya, a full-length Muslim dress, to “observe cultural sensitivities” during Ramadan.

After the blast Mr Vowles shouts “go, go, go” as the group flee through clouds of dust towards their car.

The attack continued after the group reached Khan Shaykhun and Mr Kareem travelled separately to a hospital.

“Just 15 minutes after we left, another shell hit the town of Khan Shaykhun and it has been under bombardment ever since,” Ms Crawford said.

“This is what civilians inside Idlib are having to endure on a daily basis right now.”

Ms Crawford explained how Idlib is the last rebel outpost in Syria and Al Habit is at the centre of a buffer zone which is supposed to be demilitarised.

“We saw how the ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey last year in Sochi – which declared a nine-mile demilitarised zone between rebel and regime lines – has been spectacularly breached,” she said. </s> This article is more than 3 months old

This article is more than 3 months old

The Sky News journalist Alex Crawford and her camera crew have been deliberately targeted by the Syrian government and repeatedly shot at while reporting on the regime’s assault on the province of Idlib.

Crawford said she and the other four people in her team came under intense bombardment on Thursday when a Syrian military drone spotted them in the town of al-Habit. The area in the Idlib countryside is in a buffer zone between opposition and government forces and is meant to be battle-free.

'Idlib is a bargaining chip': civilians brace as Assad air assault escalates Read more

Dramatic video footage showed the journalists under attack. Crawford said they had been filming a burning armoured vehicle when a bullet hit it. “We had suddenly become the new targets,” she wrote.

“We all withdrew and ran for cover, trying to pick our way back through the broken and busted buildings all around us.”

Crawford added: “The military drone hovered above us and we could hear the sound of an aircraft homing in.

“As we hid in a partial doorway to try to avoid running straight down an open road exposing ourselves, the first shell came in.”

Play Video 0:31 Sky News' Alex Crawford and team attacked by Syrian regime forces - video

Crawford, her Sky producer Martin Vowles, and two Syrian activists then began running through clouds of dust and thick smoke, in an attempt to take cover and to get back to their car. “Go, go, go,” Vowles shouted.

“We were spotted by a military drone and then repeatedly shot at with what we believe were 125mm shells probably fired from a T-72 Russian battle tank,” Crawford said. “As we retreated to leave the area, the targeting of us continued.”

The attack on the crew was a clear violation of international standards. One of the Sky team had “press” written on his flak jacket. Crawford said she was wearing a black abaya “to observe cultural sensitivities” during Ramadan.

All civilians had already fled the area, she said.

One of the civilian activists Bilal Abdul Kareem, a New Yorker who moved to Syria three years ago, was hit by shrapnel in the side of his chest. As the team drove off another shell came in behind them, Crawford said.

They reached the abandoned town of Kahn Shaykhun, where Kareem went to hospital and the journalists kept moving. Another shell hit the town soon afterwards.

About 700,000 people have fled the Idlib region after relentless attacks over recent weeks by regime forces backed by Russian air power.

Crawford said the 9-mile (15km) demilitarised zone between the rebel and regime lines had been repeatedly breached.

Earlier this year the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad was held liable by a US court for the extrajudicial killing of the Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin and ordered to pay $300m (£228m) in punitive damages.

In the judgment the Syrian government was found to have deliberately targeted journalists during the civil war in order to “intimidate newsgathering” and suppress dissent.

Colvin, an American reporter who operated out of London, and Rémi Ochlik, a French photojournalist, were killed in a rocket attack on a makeshift media centre in the rebel-held city of Homs in February 2012. </s> Sky News journalists claim to have been “deliberately targeted” by Syrian regime forces while reporting on the battle for the final rebel outpost, despite being “clearly identified” as press.

Special correspondent Alex Crawford said in a report published last night that she and her crew were “tracked, targeted and fired upon by regime forces” while on the ground in Idlib province.

Video footage taken by Sky News shows Crawford and her team come under fire as a shell bursts near their position, sending up a large cloud of dust. The group then scramble to find their car.

Crawford said in her report: “The Sky News crew – clearly identified as journalists – was deliberately targeted and attacked by Syrian regime forces using military drones to pinpoint our location, before launching a series of strikes.

“We were with two civilian political activists when our small group of five was tracked, targeted and fired upon by regime forces helped by Russian airpower as they bombarded Al Habit town in the countryside of Idlib.”

US political activist Bilal Abdul Kareem, who was with Crawford, was injured by shrapnel in the attack and later taken to hospital, although his wound was not said to have been too serious.

Crawford is reporting on the final push by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces and Russian military to defeat rebel factions in Syria. It follows the defeat of Islamic extremist group ISIS in March.

Crawford said her team was in an area deserted by civilians when they were spotted by a military drone and then “repeatedly shot” at with what they believed to have been shells fired from a Russian tank.

“As we retreated to leave the area, the targeting of us continued,” said Crawford. “One of the Sky crew had press markings on his flak jacket. The other was carrying a clearly marked green medical trauma pack.”

The targeting of journalists is in violation of international standards for warfare.

National Union of Journalists general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said the attack was “outrageous”, adding that it was “clearly intended to send a stark message to other journalists, and we must be united in our condemnation of such actions”.

International Federation of Journalists general secretary Anthony Bellanger said he was “appalled by this deliberate targeting of our colleagues from Sky News”. He added: “The Syrian president should be providing the media with the necessary safety to carry out their duties, not treat them as terrorists to be attacked.”

Describing the attack in her report, Crawford said: “We had just been filming a burning armoured vehicle in an area where there had clearly been fresh fighting when a bullet came in, hitting the metal on the vehicle.

“We had suddenly become the new targets.

“We all withdrew and ran for cover, trying to pick our way back through the broken and busted buildings all around us. The military drone hovered above us and we could hear the sound of an aircraft homing in.

“As we hid in a partial doorway to try to avoid running straight down an open road exposing ourselves, the first shell came in. It was so close and so loud, all we could hear for a few seconds was a deafening ringing.

“There was a huge cloud of smoke which meant we were bathed in a dusty whiteout, unable to see for what seemed like several long lingering seconds.”

Crawford added: “Even as we were running away from the scene, another shell came in behind us.

“We jumped in the car and skidded down the road, picking up a puncture as we crashed through the shrapnel all over the place.”

She said: “We were lucky and we can escape Syria. There are more than 3m civilians inside Idlib right now who can’t.”

Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were both killed in Syria in 2012 in a rocket attack targeting a makeshift media centre. A US court has ruled Al-Assad’s regime liable for Colvin’s death. </s> Sky News journalist Alex Crawford and her camera crew have been targeted by Syrian forces while covering the conflict in the Idlib province, according to dramatic video of the journalists being shot at.

Crawford wrote in an article for Sky News that she and her team of five journalists had been filming a burning armoured vehicle in the town of al-Habit when a bullet hit the machine.

The crew said military drones were first used to pinpoint their location.

“We had suddenly become the new targets,” she wrote. She added that the news team was clearly identified as press when the attack took place.

Crawford, her producer Martin Vowles and two Syrian activists began running back to their vehicle to take cover. One of the two civilian activists who were with the news crew at the time of the attack was hit with shrapnel and later taken to hospital.

According to Crawford, the attack was a violation of international standards.

READ MORE: ‘Jihadi Jack’ parents appear in U.K. court over charges of funding terrorism

“We were with two civilian political activists when our small group of five was tracked, targeted and fired upon by regime forces helped by Russian airpower as they bombarded Al Habit town in the countryside of Idlib,” Crawford’s article read.

A ceasefire, brokered by Russia and Turkey last year, is supposed to be in place, meaning Al Habit should be a battle-free area. Crawford said the demilitarized zone had been breached multiple times. Idlib is the last rebel stronghold in Syria.

Sky News is reporting that an estimated 700,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the last few weeks.

— With a file from the Associated Press. </s> Dramatic footage has revealed the shocking moment a Sky News crew were targeted in Idlib with huge shells heard in the video. Sky News' Special Correspondent, Alex Crawford, claims her team were attacked with tank shells, from Syrian regime forces. The Sky News reporter also claimed an activist they were travelling with was hit by shrapnel, with the dramatic footage showing the moment they were targeted.

In the footage, a massive explosion is heard, before Sky producer Martin Vowles shouts "go, go, go" as the group flee. The five-strong group rushed through clouds of dust towards their car, and say they were tracked by a military drone. Ms Crawford claimed her colleagues were fired upon by a "T-72 Russian battle tank" in the abandoned countryside town of Al Habit. Writing on the Sky News website, she said: "The area we were in was deserted as all the civilians had fled.

"We were spotted by a military drone and then repeatedly shot at with what we believe were 125mm shells probably fired from a T-72 Russian battle tank. As we retreated to leave the area, the targeting of us continued. "Even when we withdrew to the nearby town, Khan Shaykhun, some 10km away, the shelling followed us there and continued. "They were all clear violations of the normal standards of operation in a battle zone. "We had just been filming a burning armoured vehicle in an area where there had clearly been fresh fighting when a bullet came in, hitting the metal on the vehicle. We had suddenly become the new targets.

“We all withdrew and ran for cover, trying to pick our way back through the broken and busted buildings all around us. “The military drone hovered above us and we could hear the sound of an aircraft homing in. “As we hid in a partial doorway to try to avoid running straight down an open road exposing ourselves, the first shell came in.” She added: "The intentional targeting of journalists is also a breach of international standards." </s> LONDON (AFP) - A British journalist working for Sky News reported on Thursday (May 23) that her team was deliberately shelled by Syrian forces, while an activist they were travelling with was hit by shrapnel.

"We were spotted by a military drone and then repeatedly shot at with what we believe were 125mm shells probably fired from a T-72 Russian battle tank," special news correspondent Alex Crawford said on the Sky News website.

"As we retreated to leave the area, the targeting of us continued," said the journalist, who was reporting in the jihadist-dominated northwestern province of Idlib.

She said that one of the Sky crew had press markings on his flak jacket, while the other was carrying a clearly visible green medical trauma pack.

"They were all clear violations of the normal standards of operation in a battle zone," she said, posting a dramatic video of the attack on her Twitter account.

"Even when we withdrew to the nearby town, Khan Shaykhun, some 10km away, the shelling followed us there and continued."

Rebel activist Bilal Abdul Kareem was hit in the chest by shrapnel, she said.

Syrian government aircraft bombed several towns in the region on Thursday, killing eight civilians as troops and militia battled jihadists on the ground, a monitor said.

The new bombardment of the region of Idlib followed strikes on Tuesday night and Wednesday that killed 23 civilians, 12 of them at a busy market. </s> Sky's Alex Crawford and her team came under fire in Idlib, despite the fact they were clearly marked as journalists.

Sky News has gained exclusive access to the bombardment of Idlib - the last rebel outpost in Syria - and witnessed first-hand the relentless attack on civilians inside the province.

We saw how the ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey last year in Sochi - which declared a nine-mile demilitarised zone between rebel and regime lines - has been spectacularly breached.

Turkey's defence minister has accused the Syrian regime of violating that ceasefire.

But the opposition has mounted several counter attacks to retake lost ground and pushed ahead with fresh assaults on regime and Russian positions in neighbouring Latakia.

Officials in Idlib say an estimated 700,000 people have been forced to flee their homes over the past few weeks.

It is a dramatic escalation in the regime assault on Idlib province - the most densely-populated area of Syria - and we saw whole towns emptied of civilians as they've scrambled to get to safety in the face of an unceasing regime air assault.

The Sky News crew - clearly identified as journalists - was deliberately targeted and attacked by Syrian regime forces using military drones to pinpoint our location, before launching a series of strikes.

We were with two civilian political activists when our small group of five was tracked, targeted and fired upon by regime forces helped by Russian airpower as they bombarded Al Habit town in the countryside of Idlib.

Al Habit is slap bang in the middle of the so-called buffer zone meant to be a battle-free area.

It's also just one of dozens of small towns and communities in the countryside of Idlib province which is now the focus of Bashar al Assad's forces as he fights to regain control of the whole of Syria.

More and more civilians are being corralled into an increasingly small area of Idlib.

More than three million are now inside Idlib Governorate, having fled other fighting areas such as Aleppo, swelling the population to more than double its usual size.

Officials in Idlib are now warning of an increased humanitarian disaster if the Syrian leader is not stopped.

The Assad regime forces appear to be specifically targeting civilian services and outlets such as hospitals, schools and markets.

The violence has spiked over the past few weeks with the regime insisting it is fighting terrorists.

The main rebel group now in control in Idlib is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a designated terror organisation by the UK and the US.

Bashar al Assad is focused on regaining control of the whole of the country - and Idlib and HTS are standing in his way.

But we saw large-scale indiscriminate bombing and shelling by the regime helped by Russian airpower on vast residential areas.

And deliberate attacks on civilian populations with the intention of killing, maiming or just forcing them to flee is viewed as an international war crime.

The intentional targeting of journalists is also a breach of international standards.

One of the Sky crew had press markings on his flak jacket. The other was carrying a clearly marked green medical trauma pack.

I was wearing a black abaya (a long, full-length Muslim dress very common in Syria) to observe cultural sensitivities during the religious month of Ramadan and the two political activists with us were both wearing jeans and t-shirts.

The area we were in was deserted as all the civilians had fled.

We were spotted by a military drone and then repeatedly shot at with what we believe were 125mm shells probably fired from a T-72 Russian battle tank.

As we retreated to leave the area, the targeting of us continued.

Even when we withdrew to the nearby town, Khan Shaykhun, some 10km away, the shelling followed us there and continued.

They were all clear violations of the normal standards of operation in a battle zone.

We had just been filming a burning armoured vehicle in an area where there had clearly been fresh fighting when a bullet came in, hitting the metal on the vehicle.

We had suddenly become the new targets.

We all withdrew and ran for cover, trying to pick our way back through the broken and busted buildings all around us.

The military drone hovered above us and we could hear the sound of an aircraft homing in.

As we hid in a partial doorway to try to avoid running straight down an open road exposing ourselves, the first shell came in.

It was so close and so loud, all we could hear for a few seconds was a deafening ringing.

There was a huge cloud of smoke which meant we were bathed in a dusty whiteout, unable to see for what seemed like several long lingering seconds.

Sky producer Martin Vowles screamed at us to move as we all stood slightly dazed.

"Go, go, go," he shouted, telling us to make use of the cloud cover to move out.

One of the political activists with us is Bilal Abdul Kareem, a New Yorker who moved to Syria full-time three years ago and has set himself up as a political activist often uploading scenes of rebel battles or regime attacks.

He took shrapnel to his left side of chest and blood was seeping through his white t-shirt as we tried to reach our vehicle.

Even as we were running away from the scene, another shell came in behind us.

We jumped in the car and skidded down the road, picking up a puncture as we crashed through the shrapnel all over the place.

Martin hurriedly patched up Bilal who was complaining of numbness in his arm by now.

It felt like an age before we reached nearby Kahn Shaykun, another ghost town.

We left quickly after Bilal jumped into another vehicle to head for hospital and we headed to try to find a garage for our rapidly deflating tyre.

Just 15 minutes after we left, another shell hit the town of Khan Shaykhun and it has been under bombardment ever since.

This is what civilians inside Idlib are having to endure on a daily basis right now.

We were lucky and we can escape Syria. There are more than three million civilians inside Idlib right now who can't. </s> War monitor says Syrian and Russian jets struck four facilities, including maternity hospital, in retaliatory assault.

At least four hospitals have been targeted by air strikes in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, killing three people and wounding several, according to a war monitor and rescue teams.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), said Syrian government and Russian warplanes conducted the air attack on Tuesday in the countryside of Hama and Idlib.

The attacks came after opposition factions led by a former al-Qaeda affiliate launched an assault on a number of government-held villages along the border between Idlib and Hama.

The raids hit a maternity hospital in the village of al-Tah and a medical outpost in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, as well as near two other hospitals in Idlib province, Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"The raids on the maternity hospital in al-Tah killed an elderly woman who was an employee of the hospital, in the first civilian death in air strikes in Idlib province since May," he said.

According to the medical charity UOSSM, which has provided equipment to the maternity hospital, the woman killed was a cleaner in the facility and other medical staff were wounded.

In a statement distributed to journalists, the charity said two sets of strikes hit the maternity hospital, setting fuel-storage tanks on fire and leaving its incubator room "totally destroyed".

The Syrian government-affiliated Central Military Media outlet acknowledged the opposition offensive just south of Idlib and said forces responded with intensive airstrikes and shelling, killing a number of fighters.

UOSSM condemned the strikes and said that "systematic attacks on hospitals are back despite de-escalation deals".

Idlib is mainly controlled by Hayet Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance of anti-government groups formed in January and linked to al-Qaeda.

It is led by Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front.

READ MORE: Seven White Helmets medics killed in Syria's Idlib

The SOHR said the air strikes were in retaliation for the killing of 19 soldiers when Hayet Tahrir al-Sham launched an attack on government forces in the northern Hama countryside.

The fighting comes just days after Iran, Russia and Turkey announced they would jointly police the de-escalation zone in Idlib and parts of adjacent Hama and Latakia provinces.

Russia has already deployed military police to the other three de-escalation zones - Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, parts of the south and some areas of the central province of Homs.

The agreement excludes the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and Hayet Tahrir al-Sham.
Sky News journalist Alex Crawford and her media team are fired on by Syrian Army tanks in the Tahrir al-Sham-held village of Hbit, Idlib Governorate, while covering the fighting there. Their guide, Bilal Abdul Kareem, is injured by shrapnel to his chest.