Reuters journalist killed in Lebanon in missile fire from direction of Israel

 

Reuters journalist killed in Lebanon in missile fire from direction of Israel

Two Al Jazeera reporters among group of journalists hit by Israeli artillery strike while reporting in southern Lebanon.

Reuters' journalist Issam Abdallah selfie picture

Reuters journalist killed in Lebanon in missile fire from direction of Israel

Reuters October 14, 2023

Two other Reuters journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, were wounded in the incident and released from a hospital after receiving medical care, Reuters said.

Oct 13 (Reuters) - A Reuters video journalist was killed and six other journalists injured in southern Lebanon on Friday when missiles fired from the direction of Israel struck them, according to a Reuters videographer who was at the scene.

The group of journalists, including from Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse, were working near Alma al-Shaab, close to the Israel border, where the Israeli military and Lebanese militia Hezbollah have been trading fire in border clashes.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and a Hezbollah lawmaker blamed the incident on Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel’s U.N. envoy, Gilad Erdan, said in a briefing on Friday: "Obviously, we would never want to hit or kill or shoot any journalist that is doing its job. But you know, we're in a state of war, things might happen." He added that the country would investigate.

Reuters said in a statement that Issam Abdallah had been killed while providing a live video signal for broadcasters. The camera was pointed at a hillside when a loud explosion shook the camera, filling the air with smoke, and screams were heard.

"We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed," Reuters said.

"We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region, and supporting Issam’s family and colleagues."

Two other Reuters journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, were wounded in the incident and released from a hospital after receiving medical care, Reuters said.

Nazeh said Reuters and the two other news organizations were filming missile fire coming from the direction of Israel when one struck Abdallah as he was sitting on a low stone wall near the rest of the group. Seconds later, another missile hit the car being used by the group, setting it aflame.

While other news outlets, including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, said the shells were Israeli, Reuters could not establish whether the missiles had actually been fired by Israel.

Agence France-Presse said two of its journalists were wounded.

Qatari funded broadcaster Al Jazeera said two of its journalists were also wounded in the incident and had been clearly distinguishable as press. It blamed Israel for the incident, saying all those behind "this criminal act" should be held accountable.

"The broadcast vehicle was bombed and completely burned despite the presence of our team close to/side by side with the rest of the international media crews in an agreed-upon location," Al Jazeera said in a statement.

The village of Alma Al-Shaab has been the site of repeated clashes since war erupted further south between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian militia with close ties to Hezbollah.

Hamas fighters burst out of the Gaza Strip a week ago and launched a deadly assault on Israeli civilians and soldiers, triggering heavy bombardment of Gaza.

In an interview with Reuters, Fatima Kanso, Abdallah’s mother, blamed Israel for the death of her son.

"Israel deliberately killed my son. They were all wearing journalists’ gear and the word 'press' was visible. Israel cannot deny this crime," she added.

Shortly before Abdallah was killed, he posted on social media a photograph of himself wearing a helmet and a flak jacket with the word "press" visible on it.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Kanso's remarks.

"We always try to mitigate and avoid civilian casualties," Erdan, Israel’s UN envoy, said to reporters in a briefing.

“We regret them. We feel sorry. And we will investigate it. Right now, it's too early to call what happened there," he said.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, a peacekeeping unit that patrols Lebanon's border with Israel, said it was saddened by the news and called for the firing to stop.

"The potential for this escalation to spiral out of control is clear, and it must be halted," it said in a statement.

Editing by Mark Bendeich and Edward Tobin Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Israeli attack in southern Lebanon kills journalist, wounds several others

Two Al Jazeera reporters among group of journalists hit by Israeli artillery strike while reporting in southern Lebanon.

Agence France-Presse news agency said two of its reporters were also among those injured. 

AJ Published On 13 Oct 2023

At least one journalist has been killed and six wounded – including two Al Jazeera reporters – in shelling by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, according to witnesses at the scene.

The Reuters news agency confirmed on Friday that Issam Abdallah, a videographer, was killed in the attack.

“We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region, and supporting Issam’s family and colleagues,” Reuters said in a statement. Two other Reuters journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, sustained injuries, according to the statement.

Al Jazeera said cameraperson Elie Brakhia and reporter Carmen Joukhadar were also wounded.

“The tank shell hit them directly. It was horrible. The situation over there was – I can’t explain, I can’t describe it,” Al Jazeera correspondent Ali Hashem reported from Alma al-Shaab, Lebanon, adding that the team of reporters had been clearly marked as press.

Abu Akleh, 51, was fatally shot in the head by Israeli forces, on Wednesday
-11 May 2022- while covering Israeli raids in the city of Jenin.

Al Jazeera Media Network said in a statement that Israeli forces had “once again attempted to silence the media by targeting journalists”, this time with a missile fired at a clearly marked Al Jazeera team and other reporters in southern Lebanon.

“Israel’s targeting of the Al Jazeera team is a blatant disregard of international safety standards that clearly distinguish the press, as they shelled and burned an Al Jazeera broadcast vehicle despite our crew’s presence alongside other international media in an agreed upon location,” the network said.

“Al Jazeera strongly condemns these repeated atrocities which previously led to the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh,” the network said, referring to the shooting of the well-known Palestinian-American reporter by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank in 2022.

The network conveyed “sincere and heartfelt condolences” to the family of the deceased and wished the wounded a speedy recovery.

Reuters' journalist Issam Abdallah selfie picture

Agence France-Presse news agency said two of its reporters were also among those injured.

AFP reported, citing a Lebanese security source, that the shelling followed an attempted infiltration of the Israeli border from southern Lebanon by a Palestinian faction. The Associated Press said a nearby vehicle was left charred by the attack, citing a photographer who was present.

Lebanon’s Press Editors’ Syndicate condemned the “targeting” of journalists and described the killing of Abdallah as a “deliberate crime”.

Soaring tensions

Since the Palestinian group Hamas launched a lightning assault on southern Israel from the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 1,300 people, Israel has carried out a relentless bombardment of the besieged coastal territory. At least 1,900 people have been killed in the Israeli air raids on Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities.

With Israel expected to launch a ground invasion of Gaza, there are growing fears that the fighting could spread to other fronts in the region. Armed groups in southern Lebanon have exchanged sporadic fire across Israel’s northern border, where clashes this week have already been the deadliest since 2006.

Residents of northern Israel and southern Lebanon have watched the cross-border exchanges with trepidation, fearing the possibility of an escalation that could usher in a large-scale conflict between Israel and the formidable Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which called the Israeli strike on Friday a “heinous crime” that would not pass “without an appropriate response”.

Reuters' journalist Issam Abdallah selfie picture

“Our lives have stopped,” Marie, a 28-year-old wedding planner from a village in southern Lebanon near Bint Jbeil, told Al Jazeera. “We don’t know when they’ll go back to normal. We are wondering, ‘What’s next?’”

Hezbollah is armed with an arsenal of long-range missiles and years of combat experience gained fighting alongside Bashar al-Assad’s government in the Syrian war. Its involvement would transform the Israel-Palestine conflict into a two-front war that could stretch the capacity of the Israeli military and usher in greater involvement from regional groups supported by Iran.

Israeli shelling killed three Hezbollah members earlier this week, and Hezbollah hit an Israeli position with an anti-tank missile on Wednesday. But so far, both sides have limited themselves to tit-for-tat responses that have allowed them to avoid the kind of full-blown confrontation that would come with a heavy price.

Journalists killed in Gaza, Israel

At least 10 journalists have been killed in Gaza and Israel since Saturday, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Saeed al-Taweel, Mohammed Subh and Hisham Alnwajha were killed in an Israeli air raid on Tuesday.

Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi and Mohammad Jarghoun were shot while reporting on Saturday, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and the Journalist Support Committee.

Mohammad el-Salhi was shot dead on the border to the east of Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Assaad Shamlakh was killed on Sunday in an Israeli air raid in Sheikh Ijlin, southern Gaza.

Mohammad Fayez Abu Matar, a photojournalist, was killed during an Israeli air raid in Rafah on Wednesday.

Ahmed Shehab was killed in an Israeli air attack that struck his house in Jabaliya on Thursday.

Yaniv Zohar, an Israeli photographer, was killed during the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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