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There are reports of three Lebanese journalists having been killed during the course of an airstrike by Israel on a building in south-eastern Lebanon that was known to house reporters, BBC has been told.
The guests’ house was targeted in the assault in Hasbaya which housed more than a dozen journalists brought by at least seven media houses, with a courtyard full of vehicles labeled “press” at the yard.
Al-Manar TV and Al Mayadeen TV stations employed the three men who were shot dead in the line of duty and were mourned by the two TV stations.
The minister of information in Lebanon accused Israel of concentrating on the attack and calling it a ‘war crime.’
Israel strike has not responded so far but in the past, it has denied expressly targeting the reporters.
The dead journalists included a camera operator – Ghassan Najjar, an engineer – Mohamed Reda – both from Al Mayadeen news channel which is pro Iran, and Wissam Qassem who was a camera operator from Al-Manar, which is a Hezbollah affiliate.
The Lebanese ministry of health indicated that three others had also been wounded in the explosion.
In earlier Israeli assaults in Lebanon, five reporters had already lost their lives including, Issam Abdallah, a reporter from Reuters.
A TV report broadcast by Al-Jadeed Television, which had journalists who were cohabiting the building also at risk, reported on the structure that had been reduced “to a shell” with the floor and roofing structures destroyed and the floors cluttered with construction debris.
The equipment used for the television broadcasts had been turned on its side, with part of the satellite dish severed and wires scattered nearby.
Speaking on air covered in concrete dust, Al-Jadeed reporter Richard Tonouhi recovered breath, coughed, and added, “All official parties were told that this house was being used as a stay-house for journalists. We coordinated with them all,” while some of them did all the reporting only from the safety of two layers of concrete.
Their place of operation became the town of Hasbaya owing to the fact that the town of Marj’youn where they used to operate from was getting too risky for them.
According to Youmna Fawwaz, a reporter for broadcaster MTV Lebanon, some journalists working in the compound were packed at around 03:00 local time (01:00 BST) by the strike, whilst others were still going about their duties when that happened.
She reported that they had walls caved on them, rubble and too much dust swarmed over them, while overhead, fighter planes occupied the air.
She explained that there’s just a single newsroom for every organization in the compound and that the Amman building where Al Mayadeen reporters worked was rendered “flattened” while other Al Manar’s staff members stayed in the office.
Ms. Fawwaz said that it was a media compound that Israel and Hezbollah were well aware of. “There was no mistaking this airstrike. Everyone knew we were there. All the cars were labelled as press and TV There wasn’t even a warning given to us.” She went on to add: “They are trying to terrorise us just like they do in Gaza. The Israelis are besieging us from covering the story.” Lebanon’s information minister accused Israel of deliberately aiming missiles at journalists which is prohibited under international law. “The Israeli enemy waited for the journalists’ night breaks to betray them while they are deep in sleep,” Ziad Makary wrote on X’s. “This is an assassination after monitoring and tracking with prior planning and design as 18 journalists were there representing seven media outfits.” *’Whole neighbourhood wiped out’ in air strike* *Satellite images give new testimony of the intensity of the bombing taking place in Lebanon* *The suburbs which had the worst of Lebanese strikes* About eight kilometers from the Israeli border is Hasbaya which is occupied by the Muslims, Christians, as well as people from the Druze ethnic and religious minority.
Over the past weeks, there have been some attacks on its outskirts, however, this was the first time the settlement itself came under attack.
The attack is seen as part of escalating warfare in Lebanon where for the past weeks Israel has escalated air strikes and has in the past few days also sent ground invasions to southern border towns and villages.
On Friday UN peacekeepers briefly described the circumstances in which they had to abandon an observation post located in Zahajra, south western part, stating that they were ons ashore earlier this week.
Unifil has in the past few weeks accused Israel of targeting her bases that have in several instances led to injuries to her peacekeepers. This Israel denies and attributes some previous occurrences to encounters with Hezbollah fighters in the vicinity.
Israel has been making specific attacks in the Northern Bekaa area about the usage of the Jousieh border crossing between Syria and Lebanon which supposedly has been used for weapons smuggling by Hezbollah and Syrian security forces.
Across the last three weeks, Lebanese authorities have registered not less than 1700 air strikes in all regions of Lebanon.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah started on October 8 last year, a day after Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1200 people. The Iran affiliated political and paramilitary organization has since launched rockets and drones into Israel in what it called a “show of support” for the Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the health ministry of Lebanon, nearly 2,600 people in the country have died in the ongoing war, most of them after Israel started intensifying its warfare since September 23.
Hezbollah’s rockets have also displaced around 60,000 residents from northern regions of Israel and according to Israeli authorities, bringing them back home is one of the priorities.
The analysis of satellite images reviewed by the BBC suggests that the Israeli airstrike which began two months ago has wreaked more loss to the building stocks in the areas of south Lebanon within two weeks than a year’s worth of cross nation conflicts.
According to statistics, from the 2nd until 14th October, more than 3600 buildings partially or completely sustained damage in Lebanon which constitutes about 54% of the total losses in urban construction.
Journalists in Lebanon who were targeting civilians come a few days after the Israeli army accused six Al Jazeera journalists from northern Gaza of links to Hamas or other armed Palestinian organizations.
The Qatari broadcaster stated that it refutes the allegation and “emphatically denounces them”.
As reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists, since Israel attacked the Gaza Strip in the past year, they have killed at least 123 Palestinian journalists and media personnel.
According to the Hamas-led health authority in Gaza, the number of reported deaths has subsequently surpassed 42 thousand people.
