Destruction following the strike on a guesthouse where journalists were presiding in Hasbaya, southern Lebanon, on Oct. 25, 2024. (Credit: Photo supplied by L'Orient Today correspondent)
BEIRUT — An Israeli strike in the early hours of Friday morning killed three journalists and wounded several others as they slept in a guesthouse in Hasbaya, located in the district of the same name, in southern Lebanon.
The attack occurred at 3:30 a.m. local time and targeted a cluster of guesthouses where, according to caretaker Minister of Information Ziad Makari, 18 journalists from seven different outlets were staying. The attack killed cameraman Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda who worked for pro-Iranian news outlet Al-Mayadeen and one cameraman who worked for Hezbollah's al-Manar, according to an al-Mayadeen report.
"This is an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with premeditation and planning," the minister wrote in a post on X. "This is a war crime."
Several other journalists were also wounded in the Israeli attack. Among the injured are Elie Abou Asle from al-Jadeed, Ali Mortada from Al Jazeera, photographer Hassan Hoteit from al-Qahera channel, photographer Zakaria Fadela from the Lebanese production company ISOL, and Youmna Fawaz, a correspondent for MTV.
Reporters at the scene said the bungalow where the three who were killed were sleeping was directly targeted. Al-Mayadeen described the strike as a "deliberate attack on a residence for journalists." In an airstrike on Wednesday night, the Israeli army destroyed al-Mayadeen's office in Jnah, in Beirut's southern suburbs. The channel's team had been evacuated from the building following the escalation two weeks ago. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said one person was killed and five others, including a child, were wounded in that strike.
Destruction following the strike on a guesthouse where journalists were presiding in Hasbaya, southern Lebanon, on Oct. 25, 2024. (Credit: Photo supplied by L'Orient Today correspondent)
"The [Israeli] occupation's targeting of the journalists' residence was deliberate, and there are injured journalists from other Arab channels," Ghassan bin Jiddo, the director of al-Mayadeen, said on the channel's X account.
"We hold the occupation fully responsible for this war crime, in which journalist crews, including the al-Mayadeen team, were targeted."
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
'No weapons'
Al-Manar journalist Ali Choeib, who was present at the scene emphasized that only journalists were at the site, with "no weapons, no military target."
The National cited al-Jadeed correspondent Farhat Muhammad, who was also staying at the guest house, as saying he believed the attack was a result of Israel's apprehension toward reports in Lebanese media of its military actions in southern Lebanon.
“They tried to strike us into silence,” he said on air following the attack. “But we, like the people of Lebanon and the honorable people everywhere in this country, will not be silenced.”
According to the Samir Kassir Eyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, the Israeli army had targeted and killed at least nine journalists prior to this morning's attack, including Issam Abdullah, from Reuters, who was killed on Oct. 13, 2023, Farah Omar, from al-Mayadeen, on Nov. 21, 2023, and Rabih Al Mehmari, also from al-Mayadeen, on Nov. 21, 2023.
This is the first time Hasbaya has been directly targeted by an airstrike, although daily raids have affected villages in the surrounding district, particularly the border towns of Kfar Shuba, Shebaa, and Hebbarieh.
The Lebanese Editors’ Syndicate denounced the "horrific massacre," emphasizing that six journalists have been killed since the start of the war. They called the attack a “war crime” and criticized Israel for repeated violations of “international conventions and treaties,” asserting that the target was “a civilian site, not a military one,” where journalists and photographers were housed.
The SKeyes Center for Media Freedom condemned what it termed a “deliberate attack without prior warning,” calling it “a new war crime committed by the Israeli army against the press in Lebanon.”
Hezbollah condemned the attack, pointing to Israel's practice of "targeting of journalists and media in Gaza and Lebanon."
The Central Media Office of the Amal Movement, led by Parliament Speaker Nabi Berri, condemned the "cowardly Israeli criminal act," adding that "attacks on the journalist community over the past decades represent a systematic crime aimed at concealing the truth and obscuring public opinion regarding its terrorism, racist crimes, and collective extermination." It also called on the international community to "curb Israeli aggression and its systematic killings in Lebanon and Gaza."
The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) denounced the attack and described it as an attempt to "muzzle the Lebanese media." It also called on the U.N. and international and Arab media associations "to denounce Israel."
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad also condemned the strike, describing it as a “deliberate attack on a location known as a media center,” referencing “the recent attack on an al-Mayadeen office in Beirut.” That raid, which occurred on Tuesday evening in Jnah, struck an apartment used by the channel across from its headquarters, resulting in one fatality.
Lebanese authorities say the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 2,500 people and displaced more than 1 million people, spawning a humanitarian crisis.
On Thursday, an Israeli strike killed three Lebanese soldiers as they tried to evacuate wounded people from the border village of Yater, the Lebanese army said. There was no comment from the Israeli military.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that as of Oct. 24, its preliminary investigations showed at least 128 journalists and media workers had been killed since the start of the Gaza war, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.
It said the overwhelming majority were Palestinian media workers, 123 Palestinian, two Israeli, and three Lebanese.