Thousands of people flocked to the funeral on Sunday of a Syrian soccer star turned fighter who became an icon of the revolt against President Bashar Assad.
Abdelbasset al-Sarout, 27, died on Saturday from wounds he sustained in northwest Syria, where an army offensive has pounded the last major rebel bastion for weeks.
Once a well-known goalkeeper from the city of Homs, Sarout gained a new kind of fame when the popular uprising against Assad's rule erupted in 2011. He was dubbed the "singer of the revolution" for chanting ballads at rallies that eulogized slain activists and vilified the president.