Al Mayadeen TV stated an Israeli assault ‘intentionally’ focused its correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Me’mari.
An Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon has killed three journalists, based on Lebanese media, as hostilities develop alongside Israel’s northern border.
Lebanon’s state-run Nationwide Information Company reported on Tuesday that an “enemy bombing” killed three individuals within the Tayr Harfa space, about 1.6km (1 mile) from the Israeli frontier.
Lebanese channel Al Mayadeen TV stated two of its workers had been among the many victims. The third particular person killed was stated to be a neighborhood journalist and “contributor” to the channel.
“Correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Me’mari had been killed by an Israeli assault,” Al Mayadeen stated in an announcement.
“It was a direct assault, it was not by likelihood,” Al Mayadeen director Ghassan bin Jiddo stated, noting it got here after an Israeli authorities choice this month to dam entry to the channel’s web site.
“One other assault has focused journalists in southern Lebanon, killing a reporter and a cameraman who labored for the pan-Arabic channel Al Mayadeen … A 3rd particular person, who was with them, was additionally killed,” stated Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from southern Lebanon.
“The sensation right here is that the Israeli military desires to silence the media and punish journalists,” our correspondent stated.
“Israel” intentionally focused #AlMayadeen‘s correspondent, Farah Omar, and cameraman Rabih Me’mari, killing them each after they’d simply ended their dwell broadcast from South #Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/EOvyiRkiM9
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 21, 2023
Israel blacklisted Al Mayadeen TV final week, accusing it of “wartime efforts to hurt [Israel’s] safety pursuits and to serve the enemy’s objectives”.
Israel’s Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi stated on October 13 he had begun work to dam Al Mayadeen’s web sites and programming and shut down its native workplaces.
“The Lebanese info minister has requested the military to open an investigation into [the attack on Tuesday],” Khodr stated, including that this was the third assault towards journalists in southern Lebanon since October 13.
The Israeli army stated it was “wanting into the main points” of the incident, the AFP information company reported.
The most recent killings add to at the least 50 reporters and media staff who have been killed amid Israel’s 46-day battle in Gaza, based on press freedoms group, the Committee to Shield Journalists.
The overwhelming majority of the killed journalists are Palestinians within the besieged Gaza Strip.
Since October 7, when Israel waged its battle in Gaza following Hamas’s assault on Israeli territory, there have been repeated confrontations between the Israeli military and Hezbollah on the Israel-Lebanon border.
Thus far, the preventing has killed 70 Hezbollah fighters, 13 Lebanese civilians, seven Israeli troops and three Israeli civilians, in what’s the worst escalation since 2006.
