Attacks on Journalists During the Israel–Hezbollah Conflict

Cross-border exchanges between Israeli forces and Hezbollah began on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah initiated fire across the Blue Line, alongside the Israel–Hamas war. The fighting led to civilian and combatant casualties in Lebanon as well as deaths and injuries among journalists reporting on the clashes.[1]

Accounts of the incidents do not always establish who or what was targeted, and the cited records distinguish independent journalists from employees of media organizations and people alleged to have roles in armed groups.[1][2] Published casualty counts vary by source and methodology.[3][4] Responsibility and intent also remain contested across investigations and official statements.[5][6]

On October 13, 2023, Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah was killed near Alma al-Chaab in southern Lebanon while reporting with colleagues from Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Al Jazeera.[5] Six other journalists were reported injured in the U.S. State Department account; an earlier report relaying a Lebanese army statement gave five wounded.[3][7] The journalists were described as wearing helmets and press-marked vests, and their vehicle was marked as a press vehicle.[5]

Accounts of the incident describe two strikes. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in preliminary findings summarized by The Times of Israel, said video and witness testimony showed a first strike killing Abdallah and a second striking an Al Jazeera vehicle and injuring nearby journalists. RSF said the journalists were identifiable and their location explicitly targeted, but said the evidence then available did not establish that they were targeted specifically because they were journalists.[5]

A later account of the UNIFIL investigation reported that its personnel recorded no exchange of fire across the Blue Line for more than 40 minutes before an Israeli Merkava tank fired two rounds at the journalists. UNIFIL said the reason for the firing was unknown and assessed that firing on clearly identifiable journalists violated Security Council Resolution 1701 and international law. Israel said its forces had responded to a Hezbollah attack near Hanita to remove a threat, denied deliberately shooting civilians, and said its review would continue.[6]

On November 21, 2023, Al-Mayadeen correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Maamari were reported killed in a strike in the Tayr Harfa area; reports also described a third person as a civilian or a channel contributor.[8][9] Al-Mayadeen and Lebanon’s state news agency attributed the deaths to an Israeli attack, while the IDF said it had struck Hezbollah targets and was investigating the claims.[10] The cited accounts do not provide an independent investigation or a detailed explanation of the strike’s intended target.

On September 23, 2024, journalist Fadi Boudia was jolted by an explosion while conducting a live interview in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. A report said his condition was unclear at publication and that the strike was believed to have been Israeli; it also described him as an editor known to be close to Hezbollah.[11] In October, two Belgian journalists were reported injured while covering overnight air raids in Beirut, but the available brief gave no names or further incident details.[12]

On October 25, 2024, an Israeli airstrike hit a residence in Hasbaya where journalists were sleeping. Three media personnel from Al-Mayadeen and Al-Manar were reported killed; the State Department account does not name them or establish their individual roles. Teams from Sky News Arabia, Al Jazeera, and Lebanon’s MTV were also reported present, and vehicles outside reportedly bore press markings. Israeli defense officials said Hezbollah militants were in the building and that the incident was under review.[1]

A separate report identified the three dead as Al-Mayadeen employees Ghassan Najjar and Mohammad Reda and Al-Manar cameraman Wissam Qassem, and said an Al-Qahera Al-Akhbariya cameraman was injured. Lebanese officials and journalists described the site as journalists’ accommodation and said it held no weapons or military personnel; the report did not include an Israeli military statement directly addressing the strike.[13] Lebanon’s prime minister condemned the attack and said the Foreign Ministry would include it in files on alleged Israeli crimes. Some media organizations subsequently began leaving southern Lebanon for Beirut.[13]

On March 28, 2026, a strike hit a press-marked vehicle near Jezzine, killing Al-Manar employee Ali Shuaib and Al-Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni, along with Ftouni’s brother, photojournalist Mohammad Ftouni. The IDF acknowledged killing Shuaib and alleged that he was a Hezbollah Radwan Force intelligence operative who used journalistic work to collect and relay information about Israeli troop positions. These claims were attributed to the IDF and were not independently established in the cited accounts.[2][14]

The Long War Journal reported that the IDF released images in support of its claims and acknowledged that an image showing Shuaib in uniform had been photoshopped. A separate brief reported that a follow-up strike on rescue workers sent to assist the victims also caused fatalities, but did not identify those casualties or detail the sequence.[2][15] Lebanon’s president characterized the journalists as civilians carrying out professional duties, leaving the accounts’ competing descriptions of Shuaib’s role unresolved.[14]

In May and June 2026, members of Congress described the killing of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil and the circumstances surrounding it. Senator Peter Welch said Khalil had been identifiable as press, had been trapped under rubble for seven hours, and that ambulances attempting to help were fired upon. A House floor speech described a drone strike near a journalists’ car, a later strike on a building where journalists sought shelter, and delays to rescue workers. These claims are the legislators’ accounts; the cited material does not provide an independent investigation or official incident finding.[16][17]

Reported threats to journalists also included attacks and intimidation attributed to Hezbollah supporters. On July 30, 2024, local media reported that Hezbollah members attacked MTV crew members covering an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs and destroyed their equipment. The State Department account said the government reportedly did not respond and did not say whether crew members were physically injured.[1]

On November 13, local media reported that Hezbollah supporters beat and shot at journalist Nabil Mamlouk in Tyre, took his phone and computer, and could not open the devices. Mamlouk said the attack followed social-media warnings he had posted telling residents not to photograph a drone that had fallen at sea. Lebanese Armed Forces intelligence officers reportedly arrived after hearing gunfire, and Mamlouk’s belongings were returned after a senior Hezbollah official intervened; the account did not specify whether Mamlouk was physically injured.[1]

The State Department’s account of Lebanon’s 2024 press environment said some outlets avoided reporting from areas where Hezbollah exercised influence. Outlets that did report from those locations often removed identifying markings from vehicles and equipment, while authorities did not protect media members from violence or in-person intimidation by political, religious, and other influence groups.[1]

After Abdallah’s death, Lebanon’s foreign ministry instructed its UN representatives to submit a complaint to the Security Council and characterized the attack as a crime against press freedom, human rights, and international law. Hezbollah and Hamas also condemned the attack, with Hamas calling it a war crime; those characterizations were statements by the groups, not independent legal findings.[3]

The U.S. State Department said it had sought information from Israel about the October 13 strike and had been told Israel was investigating.[18] On December 18, 2023, spokesperson Matthew Miller said the United States had “not seen any evidence that Israel is intentionally targeting journalists,” while also saying it had raised questions about Abdallah’s killing. He said militaries should investigate alleged violations and hold responsible parties accountable when appropriate.[19]

The status of the Israeli inquiry remained disputed in reporting in December 2025. Senator Welch’s office said it had been told an investigation concluded that no soldiers acted outside the rules of engagement; Welch later said the Israeli government told his office the inquiry was closed but separately told Agence France-Presse that it remained active. An IDF spokesperson said the event was still being examined.[20]

Following the Hasbaya strike, State Department spokesperson Miller said, “We do not support strikes on journalists. Absolutely not.” Asked whether the United States had raised that specific incident with Israel, he said he would need to check whether it had been discussed after the strike.[21]

The October 13, 2023 incident has prompted sharply different assessments. Human Rights Watch characterized the strikes as an “apparently deliberate attack on civilians and thus a war crime.”[7] RSF’s preliminary findings said the location was explicitly targeted but the evidence then available did not establish that the journalists were targeted because of their work, while Israel denied deliberately targeting civilians.[5] The State Department said it had seen no evidence that Israel was intentionally targeting journalists.[19]

Other cases also involve unresolved or attributed claims. For the November 2023 deaths, the cited reports recount Lebanese media and Al-Mayadeen’s attribution to an Israeli strike alongside the IDF’s statement that it struck Hezbollah targets and was investigating. In Hasbaya, reports of a journalists’ residence and press-marked vehicles appear alongside Israeli officials’ statement that Hezbollah militants were present; the cited sources do not resolve the competing accounts.[10][1]

The status of media personnel is not uniform across incidents. Some were identified as journalists or media employees; Muhammad Afif, killed in a November 2024 strike, was described by Hezbollah as a media officer and by the IDF as its spokesperson and head of a propaganda unit. In the March 2026 case, the IDF alleged Shuaib was an operative working under journalistic cover, while Lebanon’s president described those killed as civilians doing professional work. These roles and assertions should not be treated as interchangeable with independently established status as journalists.[14][22]

Published totals also vary. The Times of Israel reported that RSF counted two journalists killed in Lebanon in 2024, while the International Federation of Journalists counted six Lebanese media professionals killed that year; the report attributed the difference to varying methodologies.[4] Lebanon’s health minister separately said in October 2024 that 11 journalists had been killed and eight injured since attacks in Lebanon began, a figure attributed to the minister and not independently verified in the cited account.[13]