Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon kills 3 journalists covering the war

BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed three journalists who were covering the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, their TV stations said.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV said that its longtime correspondent Ali Shoeib was killed Saturday in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said that it had targeted Shoeib, accusing him of being a Hezbollah intelligence operative without providing evidence.

Meanwhile, Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV said reporter Fatima Ftouni was killed in the same airstrike in the southern district of Jezzine along with her brother Mohammed, a video journalist. She had just been on air with a live report from southern Lebanon before the strike.

Top officials in Lebanon condemned the strike, with President Joseph Aoun calling it a “flagrant crime that violates all laws and agreements that protect journalists.”

Al-Manar said in a report that an Israeli airstrike targeted journalists, leading to the “martyrdom of the icon of resistance media.” A well-known Lebanese war correspondent, Shoeib had covered south Lebanon for Al-Manar for nearly three decades.

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The Israeli army claimed that Shoeib was “operating systematically to expose the locations of (Israeli) soldiers operating in southern Lebanon.” The army also accused him of maintaining contact with Hezbollah militants and inciting against Israeli troops and civilians, without elaborating.

Al-Manar TV did not respond to the Israeli allegations but described its correspondent as “distinguished by his professional and credible reporting of events.”

Israel’s claim mirrored past Israeli military allegations against Palestinian journalists that it targeted in its war on Hamas the Gaza Strip, accusing them of being Hamas militants posing as reporters.

The Israeli military did not mention the two others who died in its statement.

Since the last Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, Israel’s air force has struck Hezbollah’s civilian targets, including the headquarters of Al-Manar and the group’s Al-Nour radio station.

Saturday’s strike came days after an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed Mohammed Sherri, the head of political programs at Al-Manar TV, along with his wife.

The latest deaths bring the number of journalists and media workers killed this year in Lebanon to five.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said that freelance photojournalist Hussain Hamood, who used to collaborate with Al-Manar TV, was also killed Wednesday in the southern city of Nabatiyeh.