Three journalists killed in Israeli strike on marked press car in Lebanon

Lebanon’s president condemns ‘blatant crime’, as Israeli attacks kill more journalists

Three Lebanese journalists have been killed in an Israeli air strike on their clearly marked press vehicle in southern Lebanon.

Other journalists were wounded in the attack, and one paramedic was killed.

Fatima Ftouni and her brother and colleague, Mohammed, of Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar’s Ali Shuaib were killed on Saturday on the Jezzine Road when, according to Al Mayadeen, four precision missiles hit the vehicle.

When ambulances arrived, paramedics were also reportedly targeted, killing one. Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar have confirmed the deaths of their journalists.

The Israeli military acknowledged the strike, claiming Shuaib was embedded within a Hezbollah intelligence unit and had been tracking Israeli troop positions in southern Lebanon. It also alleged he had been distributing Hezbollah propaganda.

Al-Manar, his employer, described him as one of its most prominent war correspondents, having covered Israeli attacks on Lebanon for decades.

Israel, which has killed more than 270 journalists in Gaza, often alleges that the reporters it targets are members of or are linked to armed groups without providing evidence.

Neither network accepted Israel’s characterisation.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Israel had once again violated “the most basic rules of international law” by targeting civilians carrying out their professional duty.

Citing the 1949 Geneva Conventions and UN Security Council Resolution 1738, he called it “a blatant crime that violates all norms and treaties under which journalists are granted international protection during armed conflicts”.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam decried the attack as “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”.

Six Al Mayadeen journalists killed in weeks

For Ftouni, the war had already struck close to home. Earlier this month, her uncle and his family were killed in an Israeli strike, a loss she had reported on live television.

Al Mayadeen has now lost six journalists since hostilities began. Farah Omar, Rabih Me’mari, Ghassan Najjar and Mohammad Reda were killed in earlier attacks.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said 1,142 people have been killed and more than 3,300 injured in Israeli attacks since March 2 amid the rapidly widening regional conflict now entering a fourth week.

Israeli troops have pushed further into the south, advancing towards the Litani River. Hezbollah has claimed dozens of operations against Israeli forces in the past 24 hours.

An Israeli air raid in the southern Lebanese town of Deir al-Zahrani killed one Lebanese soldier, Lebanon’s National News agency reported.

Saturday’s killings fit a pattern that press freedom organisations have been tracking with alarm.

The Committee to Protect Journalists recorded a global high of 129 journalists killed in 2025, the most since it began collecting data over three decades ago, with Israel responsible for two-thirds of those deaths.

It has now killed more journalists than any other nation in CPJ’s recorded history.

A separate assault earlier this month killed Al-Manar’s political programmes director, Mohammad Sherri, in central Beirut.