Three journalists were killed around noon on Saturday as an Israeli airstrike targetted a vehicle they were traveling in near the city of Jezzine in southern Lebanon, according to an Anadolu correspondent.
The deceased include Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shuaib, Al-Mayadeen correspondent Fatima Fatouni, and a cameraman.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the strike, calling it a blatant violation of international humanitarian law. He said journalists are civilians protected under the Geneva Conventions and UN Security Council Resolution 1738, which prohibit attacks on journalists not directly participating in hostilities.
Aoun urged international bodies to intervene to stop attacks on Lebanese territory and offered condolences to the victims’ families and the media community.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that Shoaib was a member of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force intelligence unit who operated under the guise of a journalist for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar network. It provided no evidence, and follows the pattern of Israel making such unfounded statements to justify the murder of journalists.
Earlier this week, the Committee to Protect Journalists called for an impartial investigation into the killing of Hussain Hamood, a freelance journalist who worked for broadcaster Al-Manar TV, in an Israeli strike on the southern city of Nabatieh on March 25.
Two sources close to the journalist, who worked as both a photojournalist and a camera operator, confirmed to CPJ that Hamood was filming Israeli attacks when he was killed.
“Lebanese journalist Hussain Hamood has paid the ultimate price for documenting what Israeli strikes are doing to his community,” said CPJ’s Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Israel must immediately end its attacks on the press, uphold its obligations under international law, and be held fully accountable for killing members of the press.”
Moreover, at least 10 more people were killed, and dozens were wounded in Israeli airstrikes and shelling across southern Lebanon, Lebanese officials and media reported on Saturday.
Five Syrian nationals were killed and eight others wounded in a dawn airstrike on the village of Hanine, near the Lebanon-Israel border. Civil Defence teams recovered the bodies and transported the injured to hospitals in Tyre.
In a separate strike, one paramedic was killed, and four others were wounded when an Israeli airstrike hit a Civil Defence ambulance in Kfar Tebnit, according to Lebanon’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center.
Another two people, a father and his son, were killed when their car was struck while travelling from Rmeish to Debel. Another person was killed in a strike on a motorcycle in Haddatha. Later, one person was killed and 17 others wounded in an airstrike on Sarafand in the Sidon district, the Health Ministry said.
Hezbollah said it launched multiple attacks on Israeli military sites, troop gatherings and settlements in northern Israel on Friday and Saturday, including rockets, artillery, and drones.
The group also claimed it ambushed an Israeli force near Baydar al-Faqaani in Taybeh after midnight, inflicting heavy casualties. Witnesses reported seeing wounded evacuated.
In a statement, the Israeli army admitted the killing of Ali Shuaib, but did not comment on the death of the other two journalists.
Earlier, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted a car on the Al-Barad road in Jezzine, without providing further details.
Israel launched airstrikes and artillery attacks on 42 towns, cities, and areas in Lebanon since dawn on Saturday, most of them in the south, according the news agency.
The Israeli offensive against Lebanon, which began on March 2, has resulted in 1,142 deaths and 3,315 injuries, according to the latest figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Health. – AA and ONN correspondents.