BEIRUT: Journalists in southern Lebanon said they were targeted on Monday in Israeli strikes, which Al Jazeera network said lightly wounded its photographer.

A local mayor and Lebanese state media corroborated the journalists’ account of the cross-border incident, which came exactly a month after deadly strikes blamed on Israel hit a press group near Alma al-Shaab in southern Lebanon.

Around a dozen journalists from several media outlets were on a tour to inspect damage from Israeli bombardments and had been providing coverage from the border town of Yarun when the strikes hit. Al Jazeera said its photographer Issam Mawasi was “lightly wounded as a result of Israeli bombing”.

“Al Jazeera’s broadcast vehicle was also damaged during the attack. The strike occurred as a group of journalists toured the area,” a report on the Qatari broadcaster’s website said. Al Jazeera‘s Lebanon bureau chief Mazen Ibrahim accused Israel of “directly targeting” the group, adding that the journalists were in an open area. “Israeli occupation forces don’t hesitate to directly target journalists,“ he charged.

On Oct 13, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six other journalists from AFP, Al Jazeera and Reuters were wounded while covering the cross-border fighting in southern Lebanon.

Yarun mayor Ali Qassem Tahfah said two successive Israeli strikes on Monday “targeted the group of journalists,” hitting several metres (yards) from the teams’ vehicles and causing damage. Lebanon’s official National News Agency also said two Israeli strikes “targeted a media team” who were working in Yarun.

Local broadcaster Al Jadeed posted video on X, formerly Twitter, showing one of its correspondents, in a protective vest and helmet marked press, conducting a live broadcast when one strike hit, and a subsequent blaze nearby. Other video footage showed civilian vehicles including at least one marked “press” on the road adjacent to the blaze.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday that at least 40 journalists and media workers have been killed during the recent unrest — 35 Palestinian, four Israeli and one Lebanese.

Access blocked

Israel on Monday blocked all web access to a Lebanese satellite TV channel over “security” concerns, as its communication minister said the security cabinet had approved emergency measures to prevent Al-Mayadeen television from harming the state’s security.

“Following cabinet approval this morning, I signed the first order to block the internet sites of Al-Mayadeen in Israel,” Shlomo Karhi wrote on his Facebook page.

Network chairman Ghassin bin Jiddo insisted the move would not stop their coverage of the Gaza, saying it was part of Israel’s “ongoing policy of arrests, silencing people, and cracking down on freedom of the press and freedom of expression”. “Al-Mayadeen will not back down from its support of the Palestinian people and the resistance,” he said.—Agencies

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2023