A cameraman for the Reuters information service, Issam Abdullah, was killed and 6 different journalists, from Reuters, Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse, had been injured on Friday evening amid escalating clashes on Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.
Mr. Abdullah’s loss of life inside Lebanon was the primary time {that a} journalist has been killed previously week alongside the more and more unstable border, an space that has seen combating in current days between Israeli forces and Iranian-backed militant teams, probably the most highly effective of which is Hezbollah.
In a press release, Reuters confirmed Mr. Abdullah’s loss of life and stated two different Reuters journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, had been injured and had been in search of medical care. The information service stated it was gathering extra info and dealing with authorities within the area however didn’t present further particulars.
Two journalists from Al Jazeera, Karmen Bakindar and Eli Brakhia, had been additionally injured on Friday alongside Lebanon’s southern border, the Qatari broadcaster stated.
Agence France-Presse stated two of its journalists had been additionally injured, and in an article on its wire service stated Christina Assi, a photographer, and Dylan Collins, a video journalist, had been taken to a hospital in Tyre, Lebanon, for remedy.
Andrea Tenenti, a spokesman for United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, stated the entire journalists had been injured in the identical incident.
Reuters stated that Mr. Abdullah had been working as a part of a crew that was offering a dwell sign in southern Lebanon. Footage circulating on-line of a Reuters livestream confirmed it pointed towards a hillside earlier than an explosion hits.
“I can’t really feel my legs,” a lady could be heard screaming within the background.
Then the feed is minimize.
Footage broadcast on Lebanese tv confirmed an injured girl in a press vest writhing on the bottom in ache with a automobile burning behind her.
Olivia Dalton, a White Home spokeswoman, expressed sympathy for the journalists killed and damage. “Our heartfelt prayers are with the households — the household of the journalist who was killed, and likewise our prayers are with the injured journalists for his or her full and swift restoration,” she informed reporters touring with President Biden on Air Drive One. “We all know that the work that you simply all do is extremely harmful, and as we speak is a reminder of that.”
Combating alongside the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Friday, shattering a lull within the combating a day earlier. The Israeli army stated it had carried out drone strikes on Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon. Hezbollah introduced earlier it had additionally focused 4 separate Israeli areas in response to assaults by the nation. The Lebanese military stated considered one of its watchtowers had been focused by Israeli shelling, however no accidents had been reported.
In Gaza, no less than eight journalists have been killed amid the spiraling violence, in keeping with the Palestinian enclave’s authorities press workplace.
Peter Baker contributed reporting.