In a new calculated violence, the Israeli enemy attacked early on Friday guesthouses used by media in the southern town of Hasbaya, killing three journalists including Al-Manar cameraman.
Those martyred were Wissam Qassem, who works for Al-Manar, camera operator Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda of Al-Mayadeen Network.
Al-Manar’s Qassem, along with his martyred colleagues have been in the latest month playing an essential role in covering the war, bearing witness to Israeli atrocities, revealing truths, and offering a voice to the oppressed people of Lebanon and Palestine.
Ali Shoeib, Al-Manar’s well-known correspondent in south Lebanon, appeared in a video message filming himself with a cellphone and expressing his grief over the loss of his camera operator Wissam Qassem. Shoeib said the Israeli military knew that the area that was struck housed journalists of different media organizations.
“We were reporting the news and showing the suffering of the victims and now we are the news and the victims of Israel’s crimes,” Shoeib added in the video.
A number of journalists were also injured in the attack, which took place at around 3 AM (midnight GMT). There have been attacks on Hasbaya’s outskirts in recent weeks, but Friday’s attack was the first on the town itself.
Photos from the scene of the attack showed overturned and damaged cars, some marked “Press”.
Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary denounced the Israeli aggression as a war crime. He added that At least 18 journalists from six media outlets, including Sky News, Al-Jazeera and Lebanese broadcasters, were staying at the guesthouses.
انتظر العدو الاسرائيلي استراحة الصحافيين الليلية لكي يغدر بهم في منامهم، وهم لم يتوقفوا خلال الأشهر الماضية عن تغطية الخبر في الميدان ونقله كشفاً عن جرائمه الموصوفة.
هذا اغتيال، بعد رصد وتعقب، عن سابق تصور وتصميم، إذ كان يتواجد في المكان ١٨ صحافياً يمثلون ٧ مؤسسات إعلامية.
هذه…— Ziad T. Makary (@ZiadMakary) October 25, 2024
“We heard the airplane flying very low – that’s what woke us up – and then we heard the two missiles,” Mohammad Farhat, a reporter with the Lebanese outlet Al-Jadeed, told Reuters.
“We had been reporting from there for about a month without anything happening. I don’t even know how I climbed out from under the rubble,” Farhat said.
For his part, Ghassan bin Jiddo, the director of Al-Mayadeen, said on the channel’s X account that the attack was “deliberate”.
“We hold the occupation (Israel) fully responsible for this war crime, in which journalist crews including the Al-Mayadeen team were targeted,” bin Jiddo said.
A day earlier, the Israeli enemy had struck an office used by Al-Mayadeen in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Lebanon’s health ministry said one person had been martyred and five others, including a child, wounded.
Source: Reuters and Al-Manar English Website
