3 Journalists killed as Israel bomb Lebanon’s residential area housing media crew
The Israeli occupation forces in the wee hours Friday October 25, 2024 bombed a residential area in Hasbaiyya, Southern Lebanon used by the media crew as accommodation killing three journalists
[Al Mayadeen cameraman Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda (Image: Al Mayadeen)]
Beirut: The Israeli occupation forces in the wee hours Friday October 25, 2024 bombed a residential area in Hasbaiyya, Southern Lebanon used by the media crew as accommodation killing three journalists.
Reporters at the scene said the bungalow where the men were sleeping was directly targeted.
The air raid hit a compound in Hasbaiyya housing several journalists at about 4am (01:00 GMT) on Friday, Al Jazeera reported.
There were 14 journalists residing in the bungalow targeted by Israel, reports said.
The victims have been identified as Al Mayadeen cameraman Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda, the pan-Arab TV channel said.
Al-Manar TV, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, said its camera operator Wissam Qassim have also been killed in the Israeli airstrike.
"Al Mayadeen announces the martyrdom of broadcast engineer Mohammad Reda", the broadcaster said in a social media post.
"Reda was killed alongside his colleague Ghassan Najjar in the Israeli occupation's airstrike targeting journalists' residence in Hasbayya, South Lebanon. The aggression killed 3 journalists in total", it said.
Al Mayadeen has accused the Israel of deliberately and repeatedly targeting its offices and its staff.
"Back in November, the IOF deliberately struck Al Mayadeen's crew in South Lebanon, killing two colleagues. On Wednesday night, the IOF struck an office used by Al Mayadeen.
"Today, two more colleagues were brutally murdered by Israeli criminals", the TV Channel said.
130 Journalists killed in last one year
A total of 130 Journalists and Reporters have been killed since Oct 07, 2023 when the Israeli Occupation Forces started their military action following Operation Al Aqsa Flood.
Of them, 123 are Palestinians, 05 are Lebanese and 02 are Israelis.
“This is a very serious incident. Israel didn’t give any warning,” Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said, reporting from the southern Lebanese city. “Hasbaiyya is under no evacuation orders and, in fact, it has been relatively calm.”
Local news station Al Jadeed aired footage showing collapsed buildings and cars marked “press” covered in dust and rubble.
'War Crime"
Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary called the attack on the press “a war crime”.
“This is an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with premeditation and planning, as there were 18 journalists present at the location representing seven media institutions,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Ghassan bin Jiddo, the director of Al Mayadeen, said on X that Israel’s “targeting of the journalists’ residence was deliberate, and there are injured journalists from other Arab channels”.
“We hold the occupation fully responsible for this war crime, in which journalist crews, including the Al Mayadeen team, were targeted.”
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