A Lebanese reporter working for a Hezbollah-owned television network was also one of three journalists killed in the Israeli attack in Lebanon.
Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV said its journalist Ali Shuaib was killed in an Israeli attack on the vehicle he was traveling in.
The Israeli military accused Shuaib of being a “terrorist” who was operating “in the guise of a journalist” and exposing the whereabouts of Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon.
In its report announcing Shuaib’s death, Almanar called Shuaib a “symbol of media resistance.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was investigating the attack, adding that “journalists are not legitimate targets, regardless of which news organization they work for.”
“In this war and in the decades that preceded it, we have seen a disturbing pattern in which Israel has accused journalists of being active combatants and terrorists without providing any credible evidence,” CPJ said in a statement.
The pro-Iranian, pro-Hezbollah al-Mayadeen channel reported that two other journalists, brothers Fatima and Mohammad Hutouni, were also killed in the Israeli attack, which the Lebanese president’s office called a “blatant crime.”
“Once again, Israel’s aggression violates the most basic rules of international law, international humanitarian law, and the laws of war by targeting journalists who are ultimately civilians carrying out their professional duties,” the presidential office wrote in a post on X.
The Israeli statement did not mention the other two journalists killed.
Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morkos told a news conference that his government would file a complaint with the United Nations Security Council over what he called Israel’s “deliberate and blatant war crimes against the mission of media and journalism.”
“We abide by international agreements that prioritize the positive distinction of journalists and ensure their protection and neutrality in times of war,” Morkos said.
Israel is stepping up attacks against the Iranian-allied militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Al Mayadeen posted a video of Fatima and Mohammad Hutouni’s father saying he was “really proud of them.”
“As their father, I hold my head high,” he said. “Our eyes fill with tears, our hearts ache, and we keep walking. But we are not defeated, we are not broken, no.”
In the post-strike broadcast, Jamal al-Gharabi, one of the Hutounis’ colleagues at al-Mayadeen, stood next to the charred remains of the car in which they and Shuaib died.
“This is the car. It’s a civilian car,” he said, claiming it was hit by multiple missiles. Al-Gharabi held up a bulletproof vest with the word “press” written in Arabic on it, which had been torn at the bottom.
“This vest, this vest was meant to protect my colleague,” he said, his voice breaking. he started screaming. “Yes, this vest was meant to protect them!”
Al-Gharabi picked up another vest and claimed it belonged to Fatima Futouni.
“What can this vest do in the face of Israeli aggression?” Al-Gharabi said. “Where is the international law that protects journalists and civilians?”
The scene echoed the scene two years ago when Fatima Futouni said she survived CPJ’s October 2024 Israeli airstrike that hit a complex housing 18 journalists in southern Lebanon, killing two journalists and one media worker. In a video released by Al-Mayadeen, she stands in front of a destroyed car with a helmet, press vest and microphone in hand.
“Here’s my vest, helmet, and the rest of the weapons we carry,” she said before taking up the microphone.
