3 journalists killed in Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon

BEIRUT: Three journalists were killed on Saturday as an Israeli airstrike targeted a vehicle they were travelling in near the city of Jezzine in southern Lebanon, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

The deceased include Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shuaib, Al-Mayadeen correspondent Fatima Fatouni and a cameraman.

In a statement, the Israeli army admitted the killing of Ali Shuaib, but did not comment on the deaths of the other two journalists.Al Mayadeen said that the Israeli airstrike “directly struck a vehicle clearly marked as a press car in which she and fellow journalists were travelling”. It added that Shoaib and Ftouni’s brother were also in the vehicle.

“According to Al Mayadeen’s correspondent Jamal Ghourabi, Israel targeted Fatima’s vehicle with four precision missiles. After that, when ambulances arrived on the scene, paramedics were then targeted, leading to the martyrdom of one paramedic, reflecting an obvious attempt to assassinate press crews and even paramedics attempting to reach them,” the report said.

Al Mayadeen also shared a video of when the strike hit the press team and the remains of the charred car, with multiple people present several metres away on the road.

It added that Ftouni and her brother were not the first to be killed in the US-Israeli war on Iran. It said that earlier this month, her uncle and his family were killed in an Israeli strike, a development that she had reported on live television.

Shoeib was one of Al Manar’s most prominent war correspondents, having covered Israeli attacks on Lebanon for decades.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strike, saying it violated norms.

“Once again, the Israeli aggression violates the most basic rules of international law, international humanitarian law and the laws of war, by targeting journalists, who are ultimately civilians performing a professional duty,” Aoun said in a statement released by the presidency.

“This is a blatant crime that violates all the norms and treaties under which journalists enjoy international protection in wars.”

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the targeting of journalists was “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military admitted to killing Shoaib, alleging he was part of an intelligence unit of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force. It also shared purported footage showing the targeted strike.

The military alleged Shoaib of “operating systematically to expose the locations of IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon and along the border”.

It further claimed that Shoaib “acted to incite against IDF forces and the citizens of the State of Israel while using it as a channel for distributing Hezbollah propaganda materials”.

Israel was responsible for two-thirds of the record 129 journalists and media workers killed across the world in 2025, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

In its annual report, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the total number of journalists killed reached 67 globally in 2025, slightly up from the 66 killed in 2024.

Several journalists have been killed in southern Lebanon since the start of the previous round of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in 2023. A strike on central Beirut earlier this month killed Mohammad Sherri, Al Manar’s political programmes director. Monitoring Desk