An Italian photographer has been
hurt in a battle at Syria's last ISIS bastion and is already
returning to Italy, sources said Monday.
Milan-born Gabriele Micalizzi, 34, was injured in the battle
between hundreds of ISIS militiamen and advancing pro-US forces
at Dayr az Zor, sources said.
Micalizzi was taken to a local hospital before being flown by
helicopter to Baghdad, sources said.
"He was seriously injured in the face by RPG shrapnel but
does not seem to be in a life-threatening condition, said the
CesuraLab collective he is co-founder of.
Micalizzi will be flown back to Italy as soon as possible,
the Kurdish Syrian Rojava Information Center said.
"He will be shortly repatriated to Italy on board a medical
plane of the (US-led) coalition" that is fighting ISIS, Kurdish
forces said.
The sources said he had been hurt "in a non-serious way by
shrapnel from a rocket".
Kurdish Syrian forces are leading the offensive on the east
bank of the Euphrates.
Micalzzi is well-known internationally for his war reportage.
An art school graduate, he initially covered local news in
Milan and went on to focus on the Middle East and other crisis
areas, according to his online bio.
His photos have been published in the New York Times, New
Yorker, Newsweek, Wall Street Journal and, in Italy, by Corriere
della Sera, La Repubblica, L'Espresso and Internazionale.
He is the founder of the CesuraLab collective together with
Luca Santese and Andrea Rocchelli, who was killed during the war
in Ukraine in 2014.
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