Ap and Afp
La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, October 26, 2024, p. 18
Beirut. An Israeli Defense Forces bombing yesterday killed three journalists while they slept in a guest house where they were staying with 18 other colleagues from seven Lebanese and Arab media outlets in southeastern Lebanon, in one of the deadliest attacks. aimed at communications professionals since hostilities broke out along the border a year ago.
The event occurred in the city of Hasbaya, a town inhabited by Muslims, Christians and the Druze religious minority, an area that until now had been spared from hostilities and had been used by the news media as their base in covering the war.
Lebanon’s interim premier, Nayib Mikati, accused Israel of committing a war crime after the deadly attack. The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident.
The attack occurred around 3 in the morning and left a series of chalets located among trees in ruins, which were rented by various media covering the war; Cars marked with the word Press were overturned, covered in dust and debris, and a satellite dish for live broadcasting was destroyed. The Israeli military did not issue a warning.
Mohammad Farhat, a reporter for Lebanese television station Al Jadeed in the south, said everyone ran out in their nightclothes. “The first question we asked each other was ‘Are you alive?’” The deceased are cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast technician Mohammed Rida, from the pan-Arab channel Al-Mayadeen TV, based in Beirut, and cameraman Wissam Qassim, who worked for Al-Manar TV.
Earlier in the week, an attack hit an office of Al-Mayadeen on the outskirts of Beirut, which like Al-Manar is a pro-Hezbollah outlet. Yesterday’s bombing was the latest in a series of Israeli attacks against media professionals covering the war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Israel has not commented on the target of the bombing. However, human rights groups warned that deliberately targeting journalists amounts to a war crime.
