Syrian Businessmen put bounty on journalists

 Reuters' cameraman Ayman al-Sahili was shot in the leg while filming in Aleppo in December 2012

Fahim Saqr, a Syrian businessman living in Kuwait issued the threat against reporters working for Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya news channels.

"I announce this message in my name: any Syrian citizen from Al-Arabiya or Al-Jazeera who captures a reporter and hands them over to Syrian security forces, I will give to them 10 million liras. Their media is lies, while our media is truthful," said Mr Saqr during a phone interview with Syrian state television earlier this week.

"These people mislead Syrian citizens inside and outside the country, mislead the Arab world and mislead the whole world with their false reporting, which aims to fragment the country and Syria's social fabric."

Supporters of President Assad have frequently expressed outrage at Saudi-owned Al Arabiya and the Qatari Al Jazeera's extensive coverage of the conflict in Syria, accusing the channels of skewing their reports to favour anti-Assad positions of their governments'.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called the announcement a 'deplorable effort to silence news coverage that is critical to the world's understanding of the conflict.