The body of a Syrian scientist and doctor has reportedly been found in the countryside of the capital Damascus, adding to the number of the scholars that have been fatally targeted in the aftermath of foreign-backed militants’ takeover of the Arab country.
The lifeless body of Hassan al-Ibrahim was found in the village of Ma’araba in the capital’s Rif Damascus suburb, Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network reported on Saturday, citing local sources.
The victim used to teach at the country’s Higher Institute of Scientific Research.
The sources said Ibrahim had been kidnapped from his workplace five days before, adding that he was assassinated at gunpoint. Other sources said he was killed with a headshot.
The scholar was born in a village in the al-Shaykh Badr District of the western Syrian province of Tartus, and used to be a part of the country’s Alawite community.
In December, gunmen assassinated Dr. Hamdi Ismail Nadi, a prominent Syrian scientist in Damascus.