Syrian civil war
Syrian civil warReuters

Gunmen have assassinated a Syrian lawmaker in the restive central province of Hama, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Wednesday, citing Syria's state-run news agency and a government official.

The Syrian news agency SANA said the parliamentarian, Waris al-Younnes, was gunned down while travelling on a road linking the city of Hama with the town of Salamiyeh. He represented Hama province in the parliament in Damascus.

A Syrian official told AP that al-Younnes was killed on Tuesday night. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Several Syrian officials have been assassinated since Syria's crisis began in March 2011.

One of the most dramatic assassinations during the civil war so far was in July 2012, when a bomb at a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus killed four top officials, including President Bashar Al-Assad's brother-in-law and the defense minister.

Syrian forces have committed several massacres in Hama throughout the three-year civil war.

The United Nations in 2012 said its monitors in Syria were fired upon and prevented from accessing the site of one of these massacres.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)