Yves Debay
|
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Debay in Afghanistan in 2005
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Born
| (
1954-12-24
)
24 December 1954
|
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Died
| 17 January 2013
(2013-01-17)
(aged 58)
|
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Cause of death
| Sniper fire
|
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Nationality
| Belgian
French
[1]
|
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Occupation(s)
| Publisher, editor and journalist who specialized in military and war
|
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Years active
| 1986-2013
|
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Organization(s)
| Assaut
,
Raids
|
---|
Known for
| war reporting
|
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Website
| www
.assaut
.fr
/assaut
.html
|
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Yves Debay
(24 December 1954 – 17 January 2013), was a veteran French-Belgian war correspondent, who founded and reported for the French-language magazines
Raids
and later
Assaut
(Translation: Assault), which is published out of
Boulogne-Billancourt
,
Paris
,
France
. He was the first Belgian journalist to be killed in Syria.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
Personal
[
edit
]
Yves Debay was born in
Elisabethville
,
Belgian Congo
(later
Lubumbashi
,
Democratic Republic of the Congo
). He first enlisted in the
Belgian army
in 1975 and later was a tank commander before turning to mercenary activities. In 1987, he became a French citizen.
[1]
Career
[
edit
]
Yves Debay was a former soldier who later became a journalist specialising in military issues for war enthusiasts. In the late 1970s, Debay served in the
Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment
during the
Rhodesian Bush War
,
44 Parachute Brigade
in the South African army during the
South African Border War
and later had a career as a journalist writing for
Gazette des Armes
.
[5]
Debay was one of the founders of
Raids
in 1986 and worked for the French-language magazine for over 20 years covering military and war issues.
[2]
[3]
In 2005, he founded his own military magazine called
Assaut
, for which he served as publisher, editor and journalist.
[2]
As a war correspondent, he covered wars in Afghanistan, both Iraq wars, Lebanon, the Balkans, Libya and Syria.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Death
[
edit
]
Places mentioned in Syria shown relative to the capital city Damascus
Little is known about the circumstances in which Debay was killed. An anonymous source, described in the media as an activist, told the French news agency
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
, ".. it seems like he entered a very dangerous street where the army and pro-regime militia were positioned" before he was killed by a sniper. The source claimed to have deposited his body in Bab al-Salama, a border checkpoint for Northern Syria and Turkey.
[3]
Impact
[
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]
Yves Debay and
Marie Colvin
were among the most experienced war correspondents who were killed while covering the
Syrian civil war
.
[6]
Reactions
[
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]
While a
hostage situation
was ongoing in Algiers after France's
intervention
in Mali, French President
Francois Hollande
issued an official statement, "France condemns this heinous act and expresses to the family and friends of Yves Debay its condolences, sympathy and solidarity... France pays tribute to Yves Debay and other journalists who, in Syria, pay with their lives for their commitment to freedom of information."
[7]
Writings
[
edit
]
- Wildcat, Carnets de guerre d'un journaliste rebelle
(2004).
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]
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