Video, audio and daily blog entries will be combined to "bring some of the world's most important, yet under-reported" stories to a website called "Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone," according to the US firm.

Sites will spend a year reporting from spots deemed armed-conflict areas by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, Yahoo said in a written release.

His first reports from a war zone will be published at hotzone.yahoo.com on September 26.

"This project is the most important thing I will do in my life," Sites said in a statement.

"It's an incredible opportunity to help develop the next step in the evolution of journalism, and to tell a different set of stories more completely."

Sites will travel with a backpack of gizmos ranging from a digital camera in a head band to satellite telephones and a solar electricity generator, according to Yahoo.

News that Sites gathers will be sent to a mission control center in the Los Angeles area. The Hot Zone site was launched on Monday, according to Yahoo.

"Yahoo! News is proud to provide Kevin Sites with the platform to tell these very important stories," said Lloyd Braun, head of Yahoo's media group.

Sites is a former correspondent for CNN and NBC television and his experience includes filing footage of a US Marine shooting an unarmed Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque in November of 2004.

The site will also allow visitor feedback and questions, as well as links to resources or organizations working in the areas, Yahoo said.

"We are going to put a human face on every story we cover. Our reporting will be story-driven, like any compelling tale," said Sites.

Yahoo said Sites plans to cover conflicts in six global regions: Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and South America.

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