Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers inspect a destroyed vehicle marked “Press” in the aftermath of an Israeli strike in Hasbaya in the south of the country in the early hours of Friday that killed two Lebanese cameramen and a broadcast engineer and injured three others. The men were staying in a compound housing journalists from seven news organizations. Photo by STR/EPA-EFE
An Israeli airstrike on a compound in southeastern Lebanon killed three journalists Friday and injured three other people, according to their news organizations and health officials.
The Hezbollah-run Al-Manar network said one of its cameramen died in the attack in Hasbaya near the border with Israel and the pro-Iranian Al Mayadeen said it had lost a cameraman and a broadcast engineer, The New York Times reported. Advertisement
Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary, who said the site housed seven news organizations with 18 journalists present in total, alleged the site was targeted on purpose saying the attack was a “war crime.”
The BBC said the three deceased were all Lebanese nationals, naming them as Al Manar’s Wissam Qassem and cameraman Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda from Al Mayadeen. Advertisement
Footage circulating online, purportedly of the aftermath, shows vehicles, flak jackets and other items clearly marked “Press” although these may not have been visible as the airstrike took in darkness at around 3 a.m. local time.
Israel Defense Forces did not immediately comment but the incident, which brings to eight the number of journalists in Lebanon killed in Israeli strikes, brought protests from groups advocating for journalists’ safety and press freedom.
The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York said it “strongly condemned” Israel’s killing of three journalists in southern Lebanon.
“The international community must act to stop Israel’s long-standing pattern of impunity in journalist killings,” the non-profit said in a post on X.
Israel has consistently denied that it targets journalists but according to CPJ’s preliminary findings ahead of Friday’s deaths, at least 128 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, making it the deadliest period for journalists in the organization’s 32-year history.
At least three of those killed, two staffers and a freelancer, worked for the Qatar-run international TV news network, Al Jazeera, which Israel expelled from the country in May over its coverage of the Gaza war which the Israeli government and military alleged was unbalanced and unfair. Advertisement
On Wednesday Israel named six Al Jazeera journalists as alleged Hamas operatives, saying they were using Al Jazeera’s global reach to shill for Hamas, a group designated as a terror organization by the United States and many other Western countries.
It also accused five of the six of holding military roles in Hamas ranging from sniper to battalion team commander, in addition to their propaganda duties.
Israel said it had “unequivocal” documentary evidence against the journalists but Al Jazeera completely rejected the claims, accusing the IDF of pursuing a policy of targeting its staff working in Gaza.
The CPJ also expressed skepticism over the IDF claims saying it was part of a pattern of groundless accusations.
“Israel has repeatedly made similar unproven claims without producing credible evidence,” the group said pointing to similar “documentary proof” showing Al Jazeera reporter Ismail Al-Ghoul, who was 26 when he was killed in an IDF drone strike in Gaza in July, received a Hamas military ranking in 2007 — when he would have been 10 years old.
