The 25-year-old photojournalist died in a hospital in Turkey of wounds he sustained in a bomb attack on a home in Aleppo he was sharing with another journalist Hadi Al-Abdullah when a explosive device was set off targeting them on 17 June. Abdullah was also injured but is in a stable condition in a hospital in Antakya, Turkey.

Media reports some activists as blaming Al-Qaeda’s affiliate Nusra Front for the targeted killing. According to them, the Nusra Front killed Abdullah for his increased criticism of the group. Both reporters documented crimes against Syrian civilians by the different warring parties in the country. Issa had sustained previous injuries reporting from dangerous conflict zones during the past five years working as a photojournalist.