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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Lydia Chantler-Hicks

Israeli airstrike on journalist compound leaves three TV news staffers dead

A damaged Press vehicle at the site of an Israeli strike at a guesthouse where reporters were staying - (REUTERS)

An Israeli strike early on Friday morning killed at least three journalists as they slept in a guesthouse in Hasbaya in southern Lebanon, Lebanese media reported.

Those killed included cameraman Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda who worked for pro-Iranian news outlet Al-Mayadeen, and one cameraman who worked for Hezbollah's Al-Manar, Al-Mayadeen reported.

Reporters at the scene said the bungalow where the men were sleeping was directly targeted.

Hasbaya is a town inhabited by both Muslims and Christians. There have been attacks on its outskirts in recent weeks, but Friday's, at around 3am local time (1am in the UK) was the first on the town itself.

"This is a war crime," Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said. At least 18 journalists from six media outlets, including Sky News, Al-Jazeera and Lebanese broadcasters, were staying at the guesthouses.

"We heard the airplane flying very low - that's what woke us up - and then we heard the two missiles," Muhammad Farhat, a reporter with the Lebanese outlet Al-Jadeed, told news agency Reuters.

People inspect the damage at the site of the airstrike on the journalists’ compound (AFP via Getty Images)

He said several bungalows had been damaged. Photos from the scene on Friday morning showed overturned and damaged cars, some marked ‘Press’.

"We had been reporting from there for about a month without anything happening. I don't even know how I climbed out from under the rubble," Mr Farhat said.

Ghassan bin Jiddo, the director of Al-Mayadeen, said on the channel's X account that the attack was "deliberate".

"The occupation's targeting of the journalists' residence was deliberate, and there are injured journalists from other Arab channels," he said.

"We hold the occupation fully responsible for this war crime, in which journalist crews, including the Al-Mayadeen team, were targeted."

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

The killings came 24 hours after an Israeli strike hit an office used by Al-Mayadeen in Beiruts southern suburbs.

Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed and five others, including a child, were wounded in that strike.

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early on Friday (October 25) (AP)

Lebanese authorities say the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 2,500 people and displaced more than 1 million people, spawning a humanitarian crisis.

On Thursday, an Israeli strike killed three Lebanese soldiers as they tried to evacuate wounded people from the border village of Yater, the Lebanese army said. There was no comment from the Israeli military.

The US has said Israel should take steps to avoid civilian casualties and not endanger U.N. peacekeepers or Lebanese army troops in its attacks in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel, which has been criticised for shelling hospitals and schools, has said it precisely targets Hamas and Hezbollah militants, accusing them of using civilians as shields.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that as of October 24, its preliminary investigations showed at least 128 journalists and media workers had been killed since the start of the Gaza war, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.

It said the overwhelming majority were Palestinian media workers, 123 Palestinian, two Israeli, and three Lebanese.

At least five journalists have been killed over the past year of conflict in Lebanon, including a Reuters visuals journalist.

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