Targeting journalists: Lebanon must not become a graveyard for the press

Dear reader,

"It is precisely the heart of our collective mission – to report, understand, and, where necessary, expose these facts – that is being deliberately attacked, amid widespread helplessness," we wrote in these columns on September 1, 2025. That day, L’Orient-Le Jour decided, along with more than a hundred international media outlets, to join the operation launched by RSF and Avaaz, dressing in black to defend press access to the Gaza Strip and denounce the deaths of 210 journalists killed by Israel in the line of duty.

More than seven months later, while the Lebanese population is left to grapple with the numerous tragic consequences of a war into which it was plunged by Hezbollah's suicidal choice, the Israeli state once again appears determined to respect no limits in its campaign to destroy the party-militia's infrastructure (both civilian and military). After already targeting journalists and affiliated media premises, the Israeli army targeted, on the night of March 17, the home of Mohammad Cherri, director of political programs at Al-Manar, killing him and his wife and wounding their children and grandchildren who were present.

On Thursday, March 19, two Russia Today journalists were wounded by an Israeli strike while reporting on the Qannayat bridge. The Israeli army defended itself by stating it had issued an evacuation order for the area. Still, the circumstances of this strike recall others carried out during the previous war in Lebanon. Between October 2023 and October 2025, 13 journalists or press collaborators were killed in Israeli army strikes. In some cases, including the one that claimed the life of Issam Abdallah in October 2023, several international investigations concluded there was deliberate targeting.

Since then, the list has continued to grow. On March 25, freelance photojournalist Hussein Hammoud was killed in Nabatieh. Three days later, three journalists — Ali Choeib of Al-Manar, Fatima Ftouni of Mayadeen, and her brother, a videographer — were targeted by Israel while in their vehicle in Jezzine. On April 8, the day of "Black Wednesday,"

Ghada Dayekh, a veteran journalist who had dedicated her career to the local station Sawt al-Farah, was also killed when Israel fired a missile at her apartment building in Sour. The 10-day cease-fire, which came into effect at midnight on April 17, 2026, did nothing to stop it.

On April 22, the body of al-Akhbar journalist Amal Khalil was found under the rubble in Tiri, in the Bint Jbeil district of southern Lebanon, after an Israeli airstrike on a building where the reporter and her colleague Zeinab Faraj (who was in stable condition Wednesday evening) had taken refuge. For hours, the Israeli army prevented rescue workers and the Lebanese Army from accessing the area.

Israel seems intent on both destroying Hezbollah’s civilian environment, including its media network, and preventing any coverage of its actions in southern Lebanon as it prepares a large-scale ground offensive there. In both cases, this runs counter to all the values that L’Orient-Le Jour has defended for over a century.

No matter what one thinks of the editorial line or the role of media outlets linked to or close to Hezbollah, a journalist must never, regardless of their opinions or the circumstances, become a target. The survival of press freedom is at stake. Especially since Israel is not the only actor failing to respect this freedom. It is also no longer acceptable for Hezbollah, whose military activities have been declared illegal by the authorities, to continue to exert direct control over media coverage in several neighborhoods or towns in the country, forcing journalists to obtain "authorizations" to go there, often in the company of a minder.

Even more alarming was the cyberattack suffered by the MTV channel during the month of March, as well as the websites of the Information and Foreign Affaires Ministries, claimed by a group called "the Fatimids." This is part of a climate of intimidation against all those who have openly opposed Hezbollah since the beginning of the conflict. For years, we have denounced the countless death threats, pressures and harassment campaigns orchestrated by its opinion leaders and "electronic armies" against those bold enough to try to reveal its misdeeds. And we do not forget the guilty silence of the media operating within its orbit during the many political assassinations — of journalists and intellectuals alike — for which the militant party has been accused.

At a time when history is repeating itself before our eyes, and tensions have reached such a level that dialogue between Lebanese has become impossible, it seems more essential than ever to try once again to draw a red line. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can justify targeting journalists.

After Gaza, we must do everything we can — before it is too late — to ensure Lebanon does not become another graveyard for information.