An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed two journalists reporting for Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV on violence along the border with Israel, according to the Lebanese information minister and his channel. of TV. The attack also killed a Lebanese civilian, the station said.
Pan-Arab television Al-Mayadeen, politically allied with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, identified the journalists as correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Maamari, saying they were “martyrs for treacherous Israeli attacks” and adding that it was an airstrike.
“It was a direct target. It was not a coincidence,” said Ghassan bin Jiddo, director of the television channel, fighting back tears in a live broadcast. They join “the martyrs of Gaza,” Bin Jiddo said, adding that a man from the village, whom he identified as Hussein Akil, was also killed.
Last week, the Israeli government blocked the Al-Mayadeen television news channel from broadcasting in Israel. Information Minister Ziad Makary called the attack on the journalists “scandalous.” For its part, the Israeli military said it was investigating the matter.
Local media report several Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon this Tuesday. The Lebanese National News Agency said the Israeli army attacked the outskirts of the villages of Teir Harfa and Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon and reported that another attack on a house in the border village of Kfar Kila killed a woman, Laiqa Serhan. , 80, and injured his granddaughter, who was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Since the start of the war, at least 48 journalists have died in Israeli attacks, an unprecedented number in such a short time. Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon killed Reuters video journalist Issam Abduallah on October 14 and wounded other journalists from the French news agency Agence France-Presse and the Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera.
The Lebanese-Israeli border has seen daily exchanges of gunfire between members of the militant group Hezbollah and Israeli troops. The clashes began a day after the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a deadly attack in southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages. Since then, Israel has carried out a large-scale military campaign in the Gaza Strip in which more than 12,700 people have already been killed.
