Three staff members of Lebanese news organizations were killed in an Israeli airstrike early Friday in southern Lebanon, according to the country’s health ministry. This incident marks a continuing trend of fatalities among media workers covering the ongoing conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza.
The three victims were reportedly in a residence where journalists were staying in Hasbaya, a town near the Israeli border. Additionally, three other journalists sustained injuries from the strike, as stated by the health ministry.
The Al-Manar network, affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that one of its cameramen was among the deceased. Al-Mayadeen, another outlet with ties to the militant group, confirmed that a cameraman and a broadcast engineer were also killed in the attack.
The Israeli military has not commented on the incident. Historically, Israel has accused Al-Manar and Al-Mayadeen of promoting Hezbollah's narratives and has previously banned Al-Mayadeen from operating within its territory.
International humanitarian law stipulates that journalists should not be treated as military targets. Ramzi Kaiss, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, emphasized that targeting journalists, regardless of their political affiliation, constitutes a war crime.
According to Lebanon’s minister of information, Ziad Makary, eighteen journalists from seven news organizations were present in the house at the time of the strike. Photos from the scene indicated that at least three vehicles marked “PRESS” were parked outside the residence. Witnesses reported that there was no prior warning before the airstrike.
Zakaria Fadel, a photographer for ISOL who was staying nearby, described the moments following the strike, stating he rushed to help after hearing the explosion. He recounted finding a colleague trapped under debris and the difficulty of rescuing him.
Fadel sustained injuries but did not require surgery. Hasbaya had previously been viewed as a safe location for journalists and civilians fleeing violence from surrounding areas.
Ghassan Bin Jiddo, director of Al-Mayadeen, accused Israel of intentionally targeting the journalists' residence, labeling the action a war crime. Earlier in the week, Al-Mayadeen reported that one of its offices near Beirut was hit by an Israeli strike, although it was unoccupied at the time.
The Israeli military claimed the attack targeted civilian structures linked to Hezbollah. This week, Israeli officials also accused six Al Jazeera reporters in Gaza of being associated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, allegations that Al Jazeera denied as unfounded.
The incident in Hasbaya is not isolated; journalists have previously been killed in Lebanon during the conflict. Last November, two Al-Mayadeen journalists lost their lives in a strike attributed to Israel, and a month earlier, a Reuters cameraman was killed due to Israeli tank fire, which a U.N. report noted occurred despite the journalists being clearly identifiable as members of the press.
A recent report from the Committee to Protect Journalists indicated that the death of the Reuters journalist exemplified a troubling pattern of the Israeli military deliberately targeting journalists.