The Syrian government tracked down and killed American journalist Marie Colvin to prevent her from reporting on the Syrian civil war, according to a Syrian intelligence officer who defected to Europe. Colvin was a seasoned war correspondent who worked for the Sunday Times. The British newspaper sent her to Syria shortly after the outbreak of the war. From there, he gave live interviews to media such as CNN and the BBC. But on the morning of February 22, 2012, Colvin was killed along with French war photographer Remi Ochlik. Their death occurred when Syrian government forces repeatedly bombed a media center in the city of Homs, which housed the two reporters.
In 2016, the San Francisco Center for Justice and Accountability filed a lawsuit against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, arguing that Colvin's death was deliberate and unjust. The cause is supported by Colvin's family in the United States. The court documents that were signed on Monday include a sworn will from a former Syrian intelligence officer who defected and now lives under a new identity in an undisclosed European country. The defector, codenamed ULYSSES, said Colvin was murdered by the Assad government as part of a concerted effort to hunt down Western journalists and local media correspondents. The ultimate aim of the plan was to obstruct international relations on the war. The plan would be carried out by the Syrian army under the leadership of the country's military intelligence directorate. Many of the targeted journalists were working from the city of Homs, where Colvin was killed.
According to ULYSSES, Syrian government forces began targeting the media center in Homs after discovering that foreign journalists had managed to enter the western sector of the city from neighboring Lebanon. They then used a mobile satellite interception system to capture communications from reporters, who in turn revealed their precise location. At that point, Syrian troops were ordered to fire several missiles into the building that housed the reporters, with the certainty that Colvin and Ochlik were inside. In his testimony, ULYSSES said Syrian intelligence officials "celebrated" when they were told that Colvin had been killed. Eight would be Syrian senior officials involved in planning the alleged assassination of the American journalist. One of them, ULYSSES said, was Maher al-Assad, the brother of President Assad, who leads the Syrian Army's 4th Armored Division, considered to be one of the most favorable sides of the Syrian army government. Testimonials on the case will continue throughout this week.