Actors pay tribute to 75-year-old entertainer Syrian comedian Yassin Bakoush has been killed after being caught in the crossfire between rebels and government troops. Syrian activists said the actor was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade fired at his car by government forces in the Assali neighbourhood of Damascus.
A video shared online shows the bloodied body of the 75-year old with personal documents, which activists say prove his identity. A person seen speaking in the video says the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) removed the body from the car.
State-owned SANA news agency blamed rebels for the death, reporting that the comedian died after a rebel mortar round landed on his car in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.
A number of Syrian actors have taken to social networking websites to pay their tributes to the entertainer.
Bakoush is respected as one of the leading Syrian comic actors. He made his name as the character of Yassino alongside Duraid Lahham and Nihad Kalai in Sah ennom(Rise and Shine), Malh w sokkar (Salt and Pepper) and other TV and film productions.
Bakoush was married with 11 children, the eldest of whom, Haitham, is a civil engineer.
He was part of the generation that is credited with developing a niche brand of Syrian comedy in the early 1960s, alongside Lahham, Kalai, Rafik Sebaei, Naji Jabr and others.