Israeli forces killed three Lebanese journalists in southern Lebanon in an airstrike on Saturday that the Israeli army said targeted one of them.
The Lebanese television news channel, Al Manar, said its reporter Ali Shoeib and reporter Fatima Ftouni, from the Lebanese broadcasting organization Al Mayadeen, were killed when their car was hit. Lebanon’s information minister later said Ftouni’s brother, Mohammed, a photographer, was also killed.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had killed Shoeib, whom it called a “terrorist”, in a targeted attack, accusing him of being part of Hezbollah’s intelligence unit, and said he had reported on Israeli military positions in Lebanon.
The statement, which also accused Shoeib of “incitement” against Israeli soldiers and civilians, did not name other journalists or provide evidence to support its claim that Shoeib was a member of Hezbollah’s intelligence unit. Hezbollah, which controls Al Manar, denied the allegations.
