It has been three years since Enes Diyab, who carried out the press work of the Civil Defense (White Helmets) in Syria and made the voice of the last opposition bastion of the northwestern Idlib province heard to the world by being a freelance journalist for Anadolu Agency (AA), lost his life in a Russian air attack.

Diyab was 23 years old when he was killed in an airstrike by Russian forces in his hometown of Khan Sheikhoun on July 21, 2019.

Diyab, who met the civil war at the age of 15, started his more than eight-year journalistic adventure after seeing the peaceful demonstrations against the Bashar Assad regime in 2011 on his mobile phone.

Focusing on the harsh living conditions of the people in Idlib and attacks targeting civilian settlements in his work, Diyab also worked as a freelance journalist for AA as well as the media office of the Civil Defense.

Diyab documented many of the massacres committed by the regime and its supporters with his camera.

Many photos and videos taken by Diyab, also known as the "voice of Idlib," during the attacks in Idlib were published by the world's leading media.

The journalist from Khan Sheikhoun was injured in a regime attack in 2018 and received treatment in Turkey.

Hamid Kuteyni, a close friend of Diyab from the Civil Defense Department, told AA: "Enes loved to help people, he announced to the world those who died in the plane attacks. Those planes also killed Enes."

Kuteyni emphasized that Diyab was a very successful journalist and said: "In 2019 when the regime and Russia's attacks on Khan Sheikhun increased, the people were leaving their homes. However, Enes stayed in the district center to take care of the stray cats in the district and to shoot the attacks. He died at the beginning of the Russian bombardment."

Underlining that Diyab was a very good person and loved by the people of the region, he further said: "Enes used to focus on two issues in his work. It documented the plight of the people and the attacks of the regime and its supporters. He was trying to let the world know what the people here are going through. Sometimes he would put his camera aside and rush to help so he could save people from the wreckage. He documented the chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhun (in April 2017) through his media work. He was also affected by poison gas during filming."

One of Enes' friends, media worker Muaviye Atraş, said that Diyab was a very good journalist and his loss caused great sadness.

"Enes was a hard worker and loved his job. He would do his best to reveal the truth. He worked hard, he had a very good point of view in the shootings, he had a lot of followers."

Explaining that Diyab often risked his life to reveal the crimes committed by the Assad regime and its supporters, Atraş said: "Every time Enes went to the Khan Sheikhoun district center to follow the attacks, he would say goodbye to us. It was like he knew he was going to die. We often warned him not to go, but he wouldn't listen to us. When we got the news that Enes was under the rubble, we lived hours that no one could imagine. Then we got the news that he was martyred. Not only me but everyone who knew him was overwhelmed with sadness."

Stating that Diyab said goodbye to his friends on the day of his death, Atraş said, "When Enes passed away, my wife was pregnant, I had a son, I named him Enes. I wanted Enes to live on. I hope my son will be an honest individual like him."

Since the start of the civil war in Syria, four media workers working for AA and providing information and visual services lost their lives as a result of the attacks of various parties.

AA Aleppo reporter Salih Mahmud Leyla lost his life in an attack carried out by the Daesh terrorist group with a bomb-laden vehicle in 2015.

Vesim al-Adil, a freelance journalist who provided photography services to AA, in Idlib province in northwest Syria, died on Sept. 23, 2015, when shrapnel fragments hit his body in an attack by Russian planes in the town of Banin.

AA's freelance reporter, Mecid Dirani, died on Feb. 19, 2016, when shrapnel fragments hit his body during gunfire from a tank while he was trying to view the moment of the attack by the Assad forces in the Darayya district of the capital, Damascus.

Enes Diyab was also killed in the Russian attack on the Khan Sheikhun district on July 21, 2019.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia in March 2020. The regime, however, has consistently violated the terms, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.