An Israeli airstrike killed two journalists covering the war in Lebanon while they slept

BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike killed three journalists as they slept in a guesthouse in southeastern Lebanon at dawn Friday, in one of the deadliest attacks on the media since cross-border hostilities erupted a year ago.

It was a rare air strike in an area that had so far been spared air raids, and the media used it as a base for covering the war.

The 3 a.m. airstrike reduced the site — a series of chalets tucked between trees rented by various media outlets covering the war — into rubble, with cars marked “Press” overturned and covered in dust and debris, and at least one satellite dish for the broadcast. Direct was completely destroyed. The Israeli army did not issue a warning before the raid, and later said it was studying the matter.

Muhammad Farhat, a correspondent for the Lebanese Al-Jadeed channel in the south, said that everyone rushed to get out in their nightclothes. “The first question we asked each other: Are you alive?”

The dead were camera operator Ghassan Najjar, broadcast technician Muhammad Reda from the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen Al-Arabiya channel, and camera operator Wissam Qassem, who worked for Al-Manar channel, affiliated with the Lebanese Hezbollah group. This came after a strike earlier in the week that hit an office affiliated with Al-Mayadeen TV in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Both outlets are allied with Hezbollah and its main backer, Iran.

The airstrike early Friday was the latest in a series of Israeli attacks against journalists covering the war Gaza and Lebanon Last year. Israel did not comment on its target in Friday’s attack. But human rights groups say deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime.

“Journalists are civilians and are entitled to protection under international humanitarian law,” said Aya Majzoub, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International. “It was particularly disturbing to see Israel target civilian institutions simply because they belong to Hezbollah.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was appalled by the killing of the three journalists and called for an independent investigation into why their residences were targeted.

The organization’s program director, Carlos Martinez de la Serna, said, “The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply outraged by another deadly Israeli air strike targeting journalists, which this time hit a complex hosting 18 journalists in southern Lebanon.”

The strike in the Hasbaya region sparked immediate condemnation from officials, journalists and journalism advocacy groups. TV crews arrived in Hasbaya, deeming it safer after Israel ordered the evacuation of a town to the south of where they were reporting from.

Elsie Mufarrej, coordinator of the Alternative Press Syndicate in Lebanon, said: “For this reason, we consider it a direct targeting aimed at removing journalists from the south.” “They want to prevent journalists from covering and being present in southern Lebanon.”

Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makari said that the two journalists were killed while covering what he called “Israel’s crimes,” and noted that they were among a large group of media professionals.

He wrote in a post on the website

Hit in their sleep

Imran Khan, a senior correspondent for Al Jazeera English who was among the journalists in the guesthouses of the Hasbaya Village Club, said the airstrike occurred around 3:30 a.m. without warning.

“These were just journalists who were sleeping in bed after long days of covering the conflict,” he wrote on social media, adding that he and his team were unharmed.

Hussein Hoteit, a cameraman for Cairo Channel, said that he was sleeping when he woke up to a “huge weight” due to the collapse of the walls and ceiling. He was miraculously saved by his colleagues, who were able to remove the debris covering him after a few minutes. Their team’s home was the closest to Al-Mayadeen’s home.

He said that two missiles hit the neighboring chalet, although he did not hear their sound. He spoke from his hospital bed where he was being treated for hip injuries.

Three of the eighteen journalists staying in the guest house were injured, including an Egyptian citizen.

Youmna Fawaz, a journalist for the Lebanese MTV channel, said that she woke up when the ceiling fell on her head. I suffered a minor injury.

He added: “This targeting destroyed the entire complex. “All the chalets were destroyed and the roofs fell over our heads,” Fawaz told the Associated Press. “This was the safe space. “He has never been targeted before.”

An unprecedented toll

Friday’s deaths are the latest in a long time List of journalists Those who were killed in Israeli attacks last year in Gaza and Lebanon.

In a report issued earlier this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that at least 128 journalists and media workers, all but five Palestinians, were killed in Gaza and Lebanon, a greater number of journalists than have died in any year since the committee began. In documenting the killings of journalists in 1992, she added that of the killings, all but two were carried out by Israeli forces.

The report stated: “One year later, Israel’s behavior in the war in Gaza has led to horrific and unprecedented losses among Palestinian journalists and the region’s media landscape.” The Committee to Protect Journalists said it found that at least five journalists, including one in Lebanon last year, were directly targeted by Israeli forces. The group is investigating other cases and unconfirmed reports of other journalists being killed, missing, detained, injured or threatened.

the Killing journalists This sparked international condemnation from journalism advocacy groups and United Nations experts, although Israel said it was not deliberately targeting them.

The Lebanese Minister of Health said that 11 journalists were killed and eight others were injured by Israeli fire in Lebanon over the past year.

In November 2023, Two journalists working for Al-Mayadeen TV were killed In a drone strike on the location of their reports. A month before that, there was an Israeli bombing of southern Lebanon A Reuters videographer was killed Issam Abdallah and other journalists from Agence France-Presse Internationale, Agence France-Presse and the Qatari Al Jazeera channel were seriously injured on the top of a hill not far from the Israeli border.

Israel this week Accused journalists working for Al Jazeera Because they are members of armed groups, citing documents they allegedly found in Gaza. The network denied the allegations, calling them “a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists also rejected it, saying that “Israel has repeatedly made similar unsubstantiated claims without providing reliable evidence.”

Jad Shahrour, spokesman for the Oyoun Samir Kassir Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, told the Associated Press on Friday that the bombing of press centers is a deliberate effort to obscure the truth.

“This means they are imposing a media blackout,” he added, adding that this is a worrying trend that is now moving from Gaza to Lebanon.

Al-Mayadeen TV director, Ghassan Bin Jiddo, claimed that the Israeli strike on Friday was deliberate and directed at those covering elements of its military attack.

Ali Shuaib, Al-Manar’s correspondent in southern Lebanon, said that the photographer who had been working with him for months was killed in the attack.

Shuaib said in a video clip broadcast by Al-Manar TV: “We were reporting the news and presenting the suffering of the victims, and now we are the news and the victims of Israel’s crimes.”

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Karam reported from London. Associated Press writers Basem Marwa in Beirut contributed.