Morcos to his Syrian counterpart: Samir Kassab file 'must be given highest priority'

BEIRUT — During a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Hamza al-Mustafa on Wednesday in Cairo, the Lebanese Minister of Information, Paul Morcos, raised the case of photojournalist Samir Kassab, who was forcibly disappeared in Syria, stressing this file "must be given the highest priority."

Kassab is a Lebanese cameraman who went missing during the Syrian civil war in October 2013 while reporting near the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. His name has been widely circulated in Lebanon since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

On the occasion of the 55th ordinary session of the Council of Arab Information Ministers, held at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, Morcos told Mustafa that Kassab's file "must be given the highest priority among the issues on the table, with the aim of uncovering his fate and taking the necessary measures," according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

"The Kassab case has been one of my top concerns since assuming my duties at the Ministry of Information. It has now become an official case in every sense, and I have previously raised it in writing and through several follow-ups, the most recent of which was during the latest Cabinet session," he added. "I affirm, with full national and humanitarian responsibility, that the case of Samir Kassab is not an individual matter, but one that touches the dignity of Lebanese and Arab media as a whole.”

Morcos also called for intensifying security and operational efforts to determine the cameraman's fate and for activating joint communication channels with the relevant authorities.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Information Minister expressed interest in the matter, confirming that he would follow up closely on the file and give it the necessary attention through the available channels, in the hope of uncovering the truth behind this humanitarian case.

Sky News Arabia's cameraman Samir Kassab, along with the same channel's Mauritanian journalist Ishak Moctar and Syrian driver Adnan Ajaj went missing on Oct. 15, 2013.

They were primarily believed to have been kidnapped by ISIS, though their fate has never been clarified. Unconfirmed reports in 2016 suggested they were alive and being held in Raqqa, the former capital of the jihadist group, while Lebanese channel LBCI announced their deaths in April 2019. While this claim was not substantiated, it did not dispute that they had likely been abducted by members of the terrorist organization.