DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has insisted he has no information on James Foley and Domenico Quirico, two journalists missing inside the war-torn country.
“At present we have no information about the two journalists you mentioned,” Assad said in an interview with Argentinian news agency Telam and daily Clarin.
A transcript of the interview was published by Syrian state news agency SANA.
During the interview, according to Clarin, Assad was asked specifically about the fate of Foley, a US citizen and AFP contributor, and Quirico, a veteran reporter for Italian daily La Stampa.
But the SANA transcript made no mention of the reporters’ names, transcribing the question as asking about a reporter of “Italian nationality” and another who “was reported missing after he entered six months ago”.
“There have been certain cases where journalists have illegally entered Syria without the knowledge of the Syrian government,” Assad said, according to the SANA transcript. AFP
