Al-Mayadeen journalists come under Israeli fire in south Lebanon
Over 130 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip since the war began in October
Israeli forces at the Misgav Am military site on Lebanon’s southern border opened fire at several Lebanese journalists on 12 April.
An Al-Mayadeen crew was driving a vehicle marked with the word PRESS on the Al-Adaisseh road when the car was struck by several Israeli army bullets.
Israeli troops also opened fire at civilian cars along the same road, the outlet’s correspondent reported, adding that the attacks were witnessed by UNIFIL forces. No injuries were reported in the incident.
This was not the first time Al-Mayadeen journalists were attacked by the Israeli army.
In November 2023, correspondent Farah Omar and her colleagues Rabie al-Maamari and Hussein Aqeel were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the town of Tair Harfa, southern Lebanon. At the start of the war the month before, Reuters photographer Issam Abdullah was killed by Israeli tank shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Alma al-Shaab.
Over 130 journalists have been killed by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon since the start of the war in October.
Israeli spy planes flew over the city of Nabatiyeh in south Lebanon on Friday, carrying out a sonic boom that resulted in the sound of a large explosion in the area. Israel also hit the town of Markaba on 12 April.
Crossfire has been ongoing between the Israeli army and Lebanon’s resistance Hezbollah.
Several Israeli airstrikes struck southern Lebanon on 11 April, including in the towns of Mays al-Jabal and Khiam. Hezbollah launched several attacks on Israeli military sites along the border that day.
The resistance group recently expanded its attacks to include military sites in the occupied Golan Heights after Israel began targeting eastern Lebanon in late February.
The last attack on the eastern Baalbek region took place last weekend after Hezbollah downed one of Israel’s advanced Hermes-900 drones over southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah reaffirmed in a recent speech that Lebanon’s front is tied to Gaza and that the Lebanese resistance will not stop fighting Israel until the war is brought to an end – despite western efforts to push Hezbollah away from the border as part of de-escalation proposals brought forth by Washington and Paris.