Three journalists killed by Israeli airstrike on accommodation in Hasbiyya, Lebanon

Three Lebanese journalists were killed in the early hours of Friday morning by an Israeli airstrike that hit their accommodation in the town of Hasbiyya in south Lebanon.

Wissam Qassem, a videographer for Hezbollah channel Al-Manar; Ghassan al-Najjar, a videographer for Al-Mayadeen; and Mohamed Reda, a broadcast technician for the same channel, were all killed in the attack.

Journalists Elie Abou Aslé, Ali Mortada, Hassan Hoteit and Zakaria Fadel were all injured in the airstrike and taken to a nearby hospital, according to the Lebanese Press Syndicate.

Eighteen journalists working for several media channels were all residing in the same building, Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said on Friday. “This is a war crime,” Makary wrote in a tweet on X.

The journalists were staying in a district that neighbors the Marjayoun district, which has been subject to heavy airstrikes for weeks.

Ali Shoeib, Al-Manar’s south Lebanon director who was present at the site in Hasbiyya, told a Mada Masr correspondent that the journalists had finished a day’s reporting on the Israeli aggression on Marjeyoun and Hasbiyya on Thursday before returning at night to the hotel they were staying in.

Israeli warplanes conducted a raid on the hotel at around 3 am, Shoieb said, launching two missiles that partially destroyed the building and led to the martyrdom of three of the journalists who were staying there.

“You can see the degree of damage and destruction that we’re in the middle of,” said Mohamed Farhat, a journalist with the Lebanese Al-Jadeed channel. Farhat, covered in dust from the targeted building, spoke in a video from the scene before sunrise to show viewers the bed he was sleeping on when the air strike hit, strewn with rubble from the collapsed ceiling.

“Clearly the Israeli enemy is scared of the word and scared of Lebanese journalists and the huge voice condemning its crimes,” said Farhat.

The journalists were working for regional and international channels, according to Al-Manar, while the information minister said that seven different institutions were represented among the journalists, who he said were targeted directly.

Israel’s Friday targeting of the journalists in Hasbiyya comes within a series of attacks on Lebanese journalists conducted by Israeli forces during operations on Lebanon that began in October last year.

Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed by Israeli tank fire in October 2023, shortly after Hezbollah launched fire on Israel’s north under the framework of operations to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Since Israel began its escalation on Lebanon in mid-September, conducting daily waves of bombing and launching ground operations in early October, it has killed three more Al-Mayadeen journalists, two Al-Manar journalists and at least two more photojournalists.

Israel has also targeted Al-Mayadeen’s offices in Beirut in its nightly raids on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.

Journalists have also been consistently targeted in the Gaza Strip, where the state of Palestine has said that over 120 journalists have been killed since Israel launched its war on Palestinians in the strip last year. In a letter sent to the UN, Palestine said that the number is the highest rate of press worker killings it has recorded since the Committee to Protect Journalists began recording journalist killings in 1992.

Meanwhile, clashes continue between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in south Lebanon. Israeli media reported that five Israeli reservists were killed and 19 injured in clashes on Thursday.

In other airstrikes on Lebanon overnight, Israel targeted the Joussieh-Al-Qaa crossing, which connects northeast Lebanon to Homs in Syria.

Representative for the United Nations in Syria Gonzalo Vargas Llosa said that the strike fell “just a few meters away from the UNHCR rubb hall used to provide assistance to hundreds of Syrians and Lebanese arriving after a long and dangerous journey every day.”

Another Israeli raid targeted the Lebanese side of the Masnaa crossing to Syria further south. Masnsaa has been targeted on at least one prior occasion.

Vargas Llosa noted that many now feel too scared to use the crossings, despite their acting as vital escape routes for people in danger on both sides of the border. 

Around 185,000 people are estimated by the United Nations to have been displaced from Lebanon into Syria since Israel began its escalation in Lebanon in mid-September. Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh said on Friday that only one border crossing between Lebanon and Syria remains open.

A ceasefire remained far from sight on Friday despite calls from French President Emmanuel Macron during a fundraiser that hosted 70 senior foreign officials on Thursday night. 

The conference raised US$800 million for humanitarian aid, while a further $200 million is to help strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Although United States Envoy Amos Hochstein visited Lebanon last week to discuss a potential ceasefire resolution, no proposal has been announced so far.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to journalists from Doha on Thursday evening, saying that the US was working “very intensely on Lebanon to reach a diplomatic resolution, to see the full implementation of 1701, [and] to enable people to return to their homes.”

Reports circulated last week prior to Hochstein’s visit that Israel would request additions to Security Council Resolution 1701, which was laid out as a framework for ending the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel, with stipulations for Israel to cease its occupation of areas in southern Lebanon and for Hezbollah to withdraw troops from the area south of the Litani River.