Al Mayadeen TV said an Israeli attack “deliberately” targeted its correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Me’mari.
An Israeli bombardment on southern Lebanon has killed three journalists, according to Lebanese media, as hostilities intensify along Israel’s northern border.
The Lebanese National News Agency reported Tuesday that an “enemy shelling” killed three people in the Tayr Harfa area, about 1 mile from the Israeli border.
The Lebanese channel Al Mayadeen TV indicated that two of its collaborators were among the victims. The third person killed would be a local journalist and “contributor” to the channel.
“Correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Me’mari were killed in an Israeli attack,” Al Mayadeen said in a statement.
“It was a direct attack, it was not a coincidence,” said Ghassan bin Jiddo, director of Al Mayadeen, noting that it followed the Israeli government’s decision this month to block access on the channel’s website.
“Another attack targeted journalists in southern Lebanon, killing a reporter and a cameraman who worked for the pan-Arab channel Al Mayadeen… A third person, who was with them, was also killed,” Zeina said Tel Aviv Tribune’s Khodr, covering southern Lebanon. Lebanon.
“The feeling here is that the Israeli army wants to silence the media and punish journalists,” our correspondent said.
“Israel” deliberately targeted #AlMayadeenthe show’s correspondent, Farah Omar, and cameraman Rabih Me’mari, killing both of them as they had just finished their live broadcast from the South. #Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/EOvyiRkiM9
– Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 21, 2023
Israel blacklisted the Al Mayadeen channel last week, accusing it of “war efforts aimed at harming (Israel’s) security interests and furthering the enemy’s objectives.”
Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said on October 13 that he had begun blocking Al Mayadeen’s websites and programs and closing its local offices.
“The Lebanese information minister asked the army to open an investigation into (Tuesday’s attack),” Khodr said, adding that it was the third attack on journalists in the south of Lebanon since October 13.
The Israeli military said it was “studying the details” of the incident, the AFP news agency reported.
These latest killings add to at least 50 journalists and media workers who have been killed during Israel’s 46-day war in Gaza, according to press freedom group the Committee to Protect Journalists .
The vast majority of journalists killed are Palestinians living in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Since October 7, when Israel waged its war in Gaza following the Hamas attack on Israeli territory, repeated clashes have taken place between the Israeli army and Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
The fighting so far has killed 70 Hezbollah fighters, 13 Lebanese civilians, seven Israeli soldiers and three Israeli civilians, in the worst escalation since 2006.
