Lebanon says Israeli strike killed 3 media workers

A policeman checks a destroyed vehicle, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024.

Lebanon said an Israeli strike on a residence housing media workers killed two journalists and a broadcast engineer on Friday, in an attack the information minister branded a "war crime."

Pro-Iran Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen stated that a cameraman and broadcast engineer were killed in the strike on a journalists' residence in Hasbaya, southern Lebanon. Another TV outlet, Al-Manar, run by Hezbollah, reported that one of its video journalists was also killed in the attack on a bungalow rented by several media organizations covering the Israel-Hezbollah war.

"The Israeli enemy waited for the journalists' nighttime break to betray them in their sleep," Information Minister Ziad Makary said in a post on X.

"This is an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with prior planning and design, as there were 18 journalists there representing seven media institutions. This is a war crime."

Journalists from other media organizations, including Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed, Sky News Arabic, and Al Jazeera English, were also resting nearby when the strike hit overnight.

Israel has not commented on the strike, which, according to Lebanon's health ministry, also wounded three other individuals.

The area where the journalists were located is outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds. Israel has been at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon since late last month, aiming to secure its northern border after nearly a year of cross...