An Israeli airstrike in the early hours of Friday targetted a group of journalists in southern Lebanon's Hasbaya killing three and wounding several others. Those killed were identified as working for Hezbollah-affiliated TV stations Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar.
The airstrikes hit a group of small accommodations housing 18 journalists from at least seven different media outlets including Al Jazeera, Sky News Arabia, and TRT. They were covering the Israel-Hezbollah war in South Lebanon. In front of the bombing site were parked several cars with "Press" signs.
The Israeli airstrike claimed the lives of Wissam Qassem, a camera person with Al-Manar, along with a correspondent and a technician with Al Mayadeen, identified as Ghassan Najjar and Mohammad Reda, respectively. Despite the outlets having close ties to Hezbollah, rights groups have argued that political affiliation does not make journalists a legitimate target. Deliberately targeting journalists, who are considered civilians under international humanitarian laws, is a war crime.
Lebanon's minister of information, Ziad Makary condemned the killings terming it a war crime. Since the fighting began on October 8, 2023, Israel has killed 12 journalists, including Reuters photographer Issam Abdallah. Six international human rights groups and media outlets found in investigations that Abdallah's death by an Israeli tank was "apparently deliberate".
Sky News Arabia senior correspondent Darine El Helwe, who was present at the time of the strike at around 3:30 am local time, said, "The airstrike happened while we were sleeping. I don’t remember hearing the sound of the explosion, I heard the sound of the rocket. I came out and found the chalet had fallen on the [journalists]."
The journalists had been using Hasbaya as a base for the past month to sleep and cover the war during the day. The region had largely been spared by Israeli strikes over the past year as it is not affiliated with Hezbollah. They had relocated there after their previous residence became unsafe amid intensifying bombing.
According to El Helwe, the strike would have a chilling effect on journalists, who had previously worked out of south-east Lebanon assuming it to be safe from Israeli strikes.
"It was the only region that still would transmit pictures of airstrikes, targeting and skirmishes. I guess Israel doesn’t want these pictures to come out any more. If they wanted to target a team from the journalists, they could have targeted them on the road because they know the cars. But to target us at night while we’re sleeping?" she was quoted to have said to The Guardian.
Israel's strike specifically hit the chalet housing Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar journalists. Another strike on Wednesday hit Al Mayadeen's office in southern suburbs of Beirut, which had already been evacuated. A year before, two of its journalists died in an airstrike by Israel while working out of south Lebanon.
Since the start of Israel's war in Gaza, at least 125 journalists over the past year, as per the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel accused six journalists on Wednesday, who are working for Al Jazeera in Gaza, of being Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members. The allegations were termed "baseless" by the organization calling for international community to intervene and protect the lives of the six journalists named by Israel.