BY ISABEL DEBRE
Ali Shoeib, a well-known reporter for Lebanon’s Al-Manar, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon. Fatima Ftouni from Al-Mayadeen was also killed in the same strike.
One of two journalists killed in a strike on southern Lebanon on Saturday was targeted for being a suspected Hezbollah intelligence operative, the Israeli military said, without providing evidence.
Israel’s statement about Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shoeib mirrored past Israeli military allegations against Palestinian journalists targeted during the war on Hamas.
The Israeli army claimed that Shoeib, a prominent Lebanese war correspondent, was “operating systematically to expose the locations of (Israeli) soldiers operating in southern Lebanon.” The army also accused him of maintaining contact with Hezbollah militants and inciting against Israeli troops and civilians, without elaborating.
Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV said its reporter Fatima Ftouni was killed in the same airstrike, along with Shoeib. The Israeli military did not mention her in its statement.
Al-Manar TV did not respond to the Israeli allegations, but reported on his killing in an airstrike and describing him as “distinguished by his professional and credible reporting of events.”
AP/YA
