Fatal Attack on Journalists in Southern Lebanon: News Coverage and Analysis

2023-10-14 00:49:04

A journalist from the Archyde.com news agency was killed and six media professionals from Agence France-Presse, Archyde.com, and Al Jazeera were injured on Friday (October 14, 2023) in southern Lebanon, while they were covering the border area.

A group of journalists from several media institutions and agencies were in the vicinity of the town of Alma al-Shaab, bordering Israel, to cover the exchange of fire that took place on Friday afternoon, according to what one of the injured AFP photographers reported.

Infiltration attempt

On Friday afternoon, Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of border towns, including Alma Al-Shaab, Al-Dhaira, and Al-Adisa, according to what a Lebanese security source told AFP. The source explained that the bombing followed an “infiltration attempt” from the Lebanese side by a “Palestinian group.”

Archyde.com said in a statement, “With great sadness, we have been informed that our photographer, Issam Abdullah, has been killed,” explaining that it is “working to collect information” about the circumstances.

Abdullah was “part of the Archyde.com team in southern Lebanon,” along with journalists Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, who were injured, according to the agency. AFP photographer Christina Assi and AFP videographer Dylan Collins were also injured.

The Qatari Al Jazeera channel announced that two of its team, journalist Carmen Joukhadar and photographer Eli Brakhia, were injured “in an Israeli bombing of their car in Alma al-Shaab.”

“We are deeply saddened by the killing and injury of a group of journalists who were clearly identifiable as such, while carrying out their work,” said AFP’s general director of news, Phil Chetwind. He added: “We send our deepest condolences to our friends at Archyde.com for the loss of Essam, and our thoughts go to our injured colleagues in the hospital.”

Reporters Without Borders said that Abdullah “was killed by an Israeli strike while covering the situation on the southern border, and 5 other journalists were injured.” The organization said in a tweet, “Reporters Without Borders condemns this heinous crime against journalists and continues its investigations into the circumstances of this tragedy.”

An Israeli novel… and Lebanese anger

The Israeli army had reported in a statement shortly before the journalists were injured that there was an “explosion on the border fence” opposite Al-Shaab flag, causing “slight damage.” He said that his units responded with artillery shelling towards Lebanese territory. The Lebanese Army announced in a statement that the Israeli bombing targeted its “unoccupied watchtower” in Alma al-Shaab, which is used occasionally while carrying out missions.

For its part, Hezbollah announced that it responded to the Israeli attacks on Friday afternoon on the vicinity of a number of southern Lebanese towns. Members of the “resistance attacked three Israeli positions with direct and appropriate weapons and achieved accurate injuries.”

Later, the Israeli army said in a statement on the “X” platform (formerly Twitter), that an Israeli army drone “struck targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon.”

Early on Saturday, the Israeli army said it bombed a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon in response to “unidentified aerial objects penetrating Israel” and shooting at an Israeli drone.
The army added that it intercepted these objects and the fire that was fired at the drone.

The International Emergency Forces operating in southern Lebanon said in a statement, “As tensions continue to escalate dangerously, the UNIFIL Head of Mission and Commander-in-Chief, Major General Aroldo Lazaro, calls for an urgent ceasefire. The possibility of this escalation spiraling out of control is clear, and must be stopped.” The statement indicated that UNIFIL forces “actively cooperated with the authorities on both sides of the Blue Line to calm the situation.”

American sadness and Guterres warns

The US State Department said that US officials are collecting information regarding reports about the incident, in a ministry spokesman’s response to a request from Archyde.com to comment on the killing of its photojournalist in southern Lebanon.

“Today and every day, we stand with journalists around the world who do critically important work that we all depend on every day, sometimes in dangerous circumstances,” the spokesman said.

For her part, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre wrote on the X platform, “Our hearts are with the families of the journalists who lost their lives and those who were injured in Lebanon. Journalists do essential work to better inform the public, often in dangerous circumstances.”

Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said that the killing of Issam Abdullah, a photographer for Archyde.com news agency, while performing his work in southern Lebanon reflects the enormous danger of the conflict between Israel and Hamas spreading to Lebanon.

The border area between Lebanon and Israel has witnessed an exchange of bombardments since Sunday, the day after Hamas began an unprecedented attack against Israel, which responded by bombing the Gaza Strip.

It is noteworthy that the Hamas movement is an armed Palestinian Islamist group, classified by Germany, the European Union, the United States, and other countries as a terrorist organization.

1,300 people have been killed in Israel, most of them civilians, since the start of the attack, the number of wounded exceeded 3,200, and the number of hostages taken from Israel reached about 150, according to the army. In the Gaza Strip, about 1,900 people were killed, including at least 614 children, and about 7,400 others were injured as a result of the intense Israeli bombing in response to the operation, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

A.H./S.Sh. (AFP, Archyde.com)