An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Saturday killed two prominent Lebanese television journalists and a cameraman, according to their news organizations and Lebanese officials. The attack was condemned by the country’s president and rights groups, and it raised questions about the scope of Israel’s targets.
The Israeli military said it had targeted Ali Choeib, a correspondent for Al-Manar, a Lebanese television network owned by Hezbollah. The military accused him of being an intelligence operative for the Iran-backed militant group, but did not respond to requests for evidence to support that claim.
Fatima Ftouni, a correspondent with Al-Mayadeen, another Lebanese broadcaster whose editorial line is generally supportive of Hezbollah, and Mohammad Ftouni, a cameraman, were also killed in the strike, according to Al-Mayadeen and Al-Manar.
The three were traveling together in a car close to the southern town of Jezzine at the time of the attack, the outlets said.
Lebanon’s health minister, Rakan Nassereddine, said late Saturday that a paramedic had been killed in a second strike. The Israeli military did not respond immediately respond to a request for comment on the deaths of the paramedic or Ms. Ftouni and Mr. Ftouni.
In a statement, Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, condemned the killing of the journalists as a “blatant crime” that “violated the most basic rules of international law.” The Lebanese government now plans to file a complaint with the U.N. Security Council, according to Lebanon’s minister of information, Paul Morcos.
Mr. Choeib and Ms. Ftouni were fixtures on Lebanese television, particularly during the current war between Israel and Hezbollah. The conflict erupted earlier this month after the militant group fired rockets into Israel, opening a new front in the broader U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
The two journalists frequently reported from Lebanon’s southern border towns as Israeli forces have expanded their ground invasion there.
Both have expressed views in support of Hezbollah, which the United States designates as a terror organization, but it is also an established political party in Lebanon with support particularly among Shiite Lebanese.
The Israeli military accused Mr. Choeib of being part of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, which has played a central role in the group’s long-running conflict with Israel. It also accused him of using his work with Al-Manar to expose Israeli military positions and disseminate propaganda for Hezbollah. Israel did not make similar claims against the other two journalists.
Hezbollah condemned what it described as the “deliberate” targeting of journalists and rejected what it called “false claims” by Israel, an apparent reference to the accusation that Mr. Choeib was a Hezbollah operative.
Legal experts and human rights groups say that expressions of support for an armed group such as Hezbollah do not make someone a legitimate target under the laws of war, unless they actively participate in hostilities.
“Just reporting on the advancement of Israeli troops or engaging in propaganda does not make someone a military target,” said Ramzi Kaiss, the Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. He added that the United States-based watchdog group has “documented repeated deliberate attacks on journalists in Lebanon, including those working for both international and Lebanese agencies, amounting to apparent war crimes.”
A British correspondent for RT, the Russian state broadcaster, and his cameraman were wounded last week in an Israeli strike on a bridge in southern Lebanon.
In 2023, Reuters cameraman, Issam Abdallah, was killed and six other journalists were injured in southern Lebanon when an Israeli tank fired on their position. The Committee to Project Journalists, a rights group, concluded that the killing was “an early example of the Israeli military deliberately targeting journalists for their work.”
Aaron Boxerman, Dayana Iwaza and Sarah Chaito contributed reporting.
Euan Ward is a Times reporter covering Lebanon and Syria. He is based in Beirut.
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