Three journalists killed in Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon | Lebanon

Three journalists from the Hezbollah-affiliated television stations Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike on their press station in Hasbaya, southern Lebanon, early Friday morning.

The attacks hit a group of small chalets where 18 journalists from at least seven different media outlets – including Al Jazeera, Sky News Arabia and TRT – were staying while covering the war between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Several cars with “Press” signs were parked in front of the site.

Wissam Qassem, a cameraman at Al-Manar, and Ghassan Najjar, a correspondent for Al Mayadeen, and Mohammad Reda, a technician, were killed in the strike. Al-Manar is a Hezbollah media outlet and Al Mayadeen is a pro-Hezbollah media outlet, but human rights groups have said that political affiliation does not make journalists a legitimate target. Journalists are considered civilians under international humanitarian law and it is a war crime to specifically target them.

The killings were condemned by Lebanon's Information Minister Ziad Makary, who described the attack as a war crime. Since fighting began on October 8, 2023, Israel has killed 12 journalists in Lebanon – six of them on duty – including Reuters photographer Issam Abdallah. Investigations by six international human rights organizations and media outlets concluded that Abdallah was killed in an “apparently premeditated” attack by an Israeli tank.

Friday's strike hit the group of journalists at around 3.30am local time (01.30 BST). “The airstrike happened while we were sleeping. I don't remember hearing the sound of the explosion, I heard the sound of the rocket. When I came out I found that the chalet had fallen on the ground [journalists]said Darine El Helwe, a senior correspondent for Sky News Arabia who was present at the time of the attack.

The group of journalists had been using Hasbaya as a base for a month, sleeping there and then traveling south during the day to cover the war. Hasbaya is not affiliated with Hezbollah and was largely spared from Israeli attacks last year. The journalists moved there after their previous residence in the south became unsafe due to increasing Israeli bombings.

El Helwe said the attack would likely have a chilling effect on journalists, many of whom had previously operated in southeast Lebanon, assuming it was safe from Israeli attacks.

She said: “It was the only region still transmitting images of airstrikes, targets and skirmishes. I suspect that Israel no longer wants these images to be published. If they wanted to target a team of journalists, they could have targeted them on the street because they know the cars. But to attack us at night while we sleep?”

The attacks particularly hit the chalet where journalists Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar lived. On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike hit Al Mayadeen's office in Beirut's southern suburbs, which had already been evacuated. Two of its journalists were killed in an Israeli airstrike a year earlier while reporting in southern Lebanon.

At least 125 journalists were killed in Israel's war in Gaza last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. On Wednesday, Israel accused six journalists working for Al Jazeera in Gaza of being members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The network called the allegations “baseless” and called on the international community to intervene to protect the lives of the six journalists named by Israel.