A French government spokeswoman has identified two Western reporters killed in Syria as French photojournalist Remi Ochlik and American Marie Colvin.
The spokeswoman, Valerie Pecresse, provided details of the killing to reporters after Syrian government forces shelled the restive central city of Homs.
France’s foreign minister also confirmed the death of a French journalist in violence in Syria.
Alain Juppe told reporters after a weekly Cabinet meeting that French authorities have expressed condolences to the journalist’s family and were working to obtain the exact details about the killing. He did not identify the journalist.
Juppe said Wednesday the death points to “the degradation of the situation” and “an increasingly intolerable repression” by Syrian forces.
Foreign journalists have been sneaking into Syria illegally in the past months with the help of smugglers to cover the 11-month uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime because the government bars almost all foreign journalists and human rights groups.
The government crackdown killed more than 5,400 people last year, the U.N. says.