Three journalists killed by an Israeli strike in the south of Lebanon on Saturday were laid to rest on Sunday near Beirut. The Israeli military accused one of the journalists of being a Hezbollah intelligence operative without providing evidence, and Lebanese authorities denounced a “war crime”.
The funeral for three journalists killed by an Israeli strike in the south of Lebanon on Saturday took place near Beirut on Sunday. Lebanese authorities called the attack a “blatant crime”.
Ali Shoeib of Hezbollah‘s Al Manar channel and Fatima Ftouni of Al Mayadeen, seen as close to the Iran-backed movement, were killed in Jezzine, alongside Ftouni’s brother, a cameraman.
The Israeli military confirmed killing Al Manar correspondent Ali Shoeib, accusing him of having “operated within the Hezbollah terrorist organisation under the guise of a journalist”.
It did not comment on the deaths of Ftouni and her brother.
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when The Iranian Revolutionary Guard which is commanding its proxy Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.
Israel has responded with large-scale air strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south, with Lebanese authorities reporting at least 1,189 people killed since the hostilities broke out.
Shoeib was one of Al Manar’s most prominent war correspondents, having covered Israeli attacks on Lebanon for decades.
Hundreds attend funeral
Many Hezbollah flags were in evidence at the funeral in a temporary cemetery in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the group holds sway.
AFP correspondents said hundreds of people attended the funeral, and the bodies of Shoeib and Fatima Ftouni were draped in their channels’ logos and with bouquets of flowers.
“Fatima and Ali were heroes,” a relative of Ftouni’s who gave only his first name as Qassem told AFP.
“We will continue on this path, on this journey, even if we all become martyrs.”
Ali Hashem, who had been close to Shoeib, said “losing them is very difficult”, but “we will not be broken”.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told public broadcaster France 3 on Sunday that journalists working in war zones “must never be targeted, including when they “have links with parties to the conflict”.
“If it is indeed confirmed that the journalists in question were deliberately targeted by the Israeli army, then this is extremely serious and a blatant violation of international law,” Barrot said.
Since the start of the previous hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in 2023, which a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented at least 11 Lebanese journalists and press workers killed by Israel.
In the Gaza Strip, where Israel fought a war against Palestinian armed group Hamas from October 2023 until a ceasefire last year, 210 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by the Israeli military, the CPJ said.
‘Blatant crime’
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the killings, calling them “a blatant crime that violates all the norms and treaties under which journalists enjoy international protection in wars”.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the targeting of journalists was “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”, while Information Minister Paul Morcos deemed the actions to be “war crimes”.
A strike on central Beirut earlier this month killed Mohammad Sherri, Al Manar’s political programmes director.
Several journalists were also killed and wounded during the previous round of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in 2023 and 2024.
At least five journalists were killed in Israeli strikes in the south in that conflict, including a correspondent for Al-Mayadeen TV and a cameraman for Al-Manar.
In October 2023, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six others wounded, including AFP journalists Dylan Collins and Christina Assi while covering the conflict near the Israeli border.
An independent AFP investigation concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area inside Israel.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
