Ali Moustafa died along with seven others when government aircraft dropped crude bombs and one exploded where was standing with firefighters in the rebel-held Hadariyeh area of Aleppo city, said an activist who identifies himself as Abu al-Hassan Marea.
Moustafa's sister, Justina Rosa Botelho confirmed her 29-year-old brother's death after activists sent her a photograph of his corpse. Moustafa was born in Toronto, Canada, the son of Pakistani and Portuguese immigrant parents.
The family was not aware that he was in Syria. They were last in contact a week ago, when Moustafa told her that he was in Turkey, she said.
Botelho said she and Moustafa shared the same mother.
On another note, the international rights group Amnesty International accused the Syrian government of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by blockading and starving civilians in the southern Damascus neighborhood of Yarmouk.
Amnesty said it estimates 200 people in Yarmouk have died of hunger-related illnesses since a yearlong blockade on the area was tightened in July by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
In a report released Monday, Amnesty said its research showed that 128 people starved to death.
Assad-loyal forces began blocking the Palestinian-dominated area to flush out rebels and to punish civilians for harboring them, in a policy the government has used across Syria since the uprising began three years ago.
Efforts to reach a truce in Yarmouk allowing food deliveries to starving residents have repeatedly collapsed. AP