Journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik Killed In Syria

Voan Valat AP

Intrepid American war correspondent Marie Colvin, 55, and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik, 29, were killed Wednesday in the Homs opposition stronghold. President Bashar Assad's regime escalated its attacks on rebel bases , and the incessant shelling claimed the lives of at least 13 people. The opposition continues its efforts to rid Syria of the ruler who has heaped a mountain of atrocities on its citizens, despite its lack of sophisticated weaponry available to Assad's forces.

Colvin and Ochlik died when the house in which they and other journalists were staying was hit by a rocket as they tried to escape. Both had won awards for their reporting from countries bombarded by violence. The day before she died, Colvin  appeared in a videotape shot in a makeshift hospital on BBC and lamented the lack of medical facilities for the wounded and the terror that dominates life in Homs. Colvin reported for the London Sunday Times for 25 years and focused on the plight of women and children in wartime.

Ochlik was just beginning his career when his friend Lucas Dolego, a French photographer, was killed by a police teargas canister on the streets of Tunis during the revolution there last January. Witnessing the death of Dolego deeply affected Ochlik, who understood the risks of his work in Homs.

Colvin lost her eye in Sri Lanka during a 2001 government attack, and opted to wear a black eye patch rather than using a prosthetic eye. It symbolized her courage under fire and made her instantly recognizable.
Their deaths are more than just casualties of war. The world has lost two journalists through whose lens and words we saw the truth of Assad's assault on his own people