Lebanon mourns slain media workers

Grief spread across Lebanon on Saturday after an Israeli strike in the south killed two reporters and a cameraman travelling together on assignment, in an attack that also left a medic and a civilian dead when they stopped to help, sharpening fears that the war’s front line is becoming even more perilous for journalists and first responders. Lebanese officials condemned the strike as a crime against the press, while Israel’s military said it had targeted one of the journalists, alleging without public evidence that he was linked to Hezbollah intelligence.

Those killed were identified by Lebanese media and officials as Ali Shaib of Al Manar, Fatima Ftouni of Al Mayadeen and her brother Mohammed Ftouni, a cameraman travelling with her. Reuters and Associated Press reported that the strike hit them in southern Lebanon during a day of heavy bombardment. Israel acknowledged targeting Shaib, but did not publicly explain the deaths of the other two media workers. Hezbollah denied the allegation against Shaib, and Lebanon’s president Joseph Aoun said the attack violated protections guaranteed to journalists under international law.

The deaths reverberated far beyond the media sector because they came amid a broader pattern of strikes that Lebanese authorities and aid agencies say has hit ambulances, paramedics and health facilities. Reuters reported that medics responding to emergencies in the south have increasingly feared so-called repeat strikes, while the World Health Organization and UN officials have raised alarm over mounting attacks on healthcare workers in Lebanon. AP said nine paramedics were among those killed across Lebanon over the previous day, taking the total number of healthcare workers killed since the escalation in March to more than 50.

For Lebanon’s media community, the strike reopened trauma that has never fully healed since the killing of Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah in south Lebanon on 13 October 2023. Investigations by Reuters, Human Rights Watch and other watchdogs have challenged Israel’s account of that earlier attack and found strong evidence that a clearly identifiable group of journalists was struck deliberately or unlawfully. Nearly two years later, accountability remains elusive, a gap that has fed anger among reporters now working under fire on both sides of the border.

Press freedom groups say the Lebanon strike fits a wider and deeply troubling trend. The Committee to Protect Journalists said Israel’s war has become the deadliest conflict for media workers since the organisation began keeping records in 1992, and it has been examining multiple journalist killings in Lebanon since late 2024 to determine whether they were linked to their work. CPJ has also said that a lack of accountability over earlier deaths has increased the danger for reporters trying to document hostilities in Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere in the region.

Saturday’s killings came as Israel widened military operations in Lebanon and signalled that it intends to keep a military hold over parts of the south up to the Litani River, a step that has heightened tension in Beirut and among displaced communities. Reuters reported this week that Israel’s defence leadership had openly described plans for a “security zone”, while Lebanese authorities said the toll from the latest round of fighting had passed 1,000 dead since early March, with tens of thousands uprooted and key infrastructure damaged.

That broader military backdrop matters because journalists covering southern Lebanon are often operating on exposed roads, near border villages and in areas repeatedly hit by artillery, drones and airstrikes. News crews in the south have long argued that they are visible, known to local communities and often identifiable by equipment and vehicles. Yet the risks have grown as the conflict has become more fluid, with faster strike cycles, fewer safe corridors and increasing overlap between military targets, civilian movement and rescue activity. Human rights groups have warned that the laws of war still require distinction and proportionality, and that journalists retain civilian protection unless they directly take part in hostilities.