The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) bombed the residence of a group of journalists in Hasbaya, southern Lebanon, resulting in the killing of 3 Lebanese journalists.
According to the official Lebanese News Agency, “3 journalists were killed in a hostile Israeli attack on their residence in Hasbaya,” while Al-Manar channel announced the killing of its cameraman Wissam Qassem in the Israeli raid.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen channel, Ghassan Ben Jeddou, reported the killing of the channel’s cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Mohammad Reda in the same bombing.
Ben Jeddou said that “journalists at Al-Mayadeen were present with other journalists in Hasbaya, and the IOF targeted their residence,” stressing that the targeting was deliberate, and that “other journalists from other Arab channels were also injured.”
He added: “We hold the occupation fully responsible for this war crime of targeting journalistic crews, including the Al-Mayadeen team.”
It is worth noting that this is the third time when media crews have been targeted by Israel in southern Lebanon since October 2023, after Reuters photographer Isaac Abdullah was killed in an Israeli attack on a group of journalists in the Alma al-Shaab area on October 13, 2023.
An Israeli drone then targeted Al-Mayadeen TV crew in Tayr Harfa town in November 2023, killing the channel’s correspondent Farah Omar and photographer Rabie Maamari.
The aggression on Lebanon since October 2023 left thousands of deaths and injuries, in addition to about one and a half million displaced persons.
The numbers are expected to rise as a result of the continuation of the “most violent and extensive” aggression on Lebanon since the beginning of the confrontations with Hezbollah about a year ago.
The party and Palestinian factions in Lebanon demand an end to the war of extermination waged by the Israeli occupation with American support on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which has left more than 137,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.
It is noteworthy that international law protects civilians in conflict zones, and directly targeting them is a serious violation, as is targeting homes, which requires a comprehensive investigation to hold those responsible for these crimes accountable.
