Anthony Shahid dies in Syria

Journalism lost a daring voice as Anthony Shadid, a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times, died of an apparent asthma attack while covering the uprising in Syria. He was 43.

Shadid, a Lebanese-American, died Thursday as he and Times photographer Tyler Hicks were on their way back to neighbouring Turkey in the company of smugglers, The Times said. At the time, he was traveling by horseback on his way out of Syria, where he had been covering the ongoing government crackdown.

Two times Pulitzer winner, Shahid was one of six journalists held for six days by pro-Gaddafi forces in March 2011 while covering the civil war in Libya.


"Anthony died as he lived - determined to bear witness to the transformation sweeping the Middle East and to testify to the suffering of people caught between government oppression and opposition forces," Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson said Thursday night in a message to the newsroom.

Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, offered condolences to Shadid's family, friends and colleagues, writing on Twitter: "I've known and admired him personally. N.M."

Shadid began his journalist career in 1990 with The Associated Press and later worked for The Boston Globe and The Washington Post before joining The Times two years ago.

During his tenure with the Post, Shahid received Pulitzers in 2004 and 2010 for reporting on Iraq. He was the author of "Legacy of the Prophet: Despots, Democrats and the New Politics of Islam" and "Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War." At the time of his death he was working on a more personal project, the story of his ancestral home in Lebanon.