Israel kills 3 journalists in Lebanon, including reporter for Hezbollah-run broadcaster

By Charbel Mallo, Dana Karni, Kareem El Damanhoury, Max Saltman, CNN

(CNN) — A Lebanese reporter working for a Hezbollah-owned television network was among three journalists killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon.

Hezbollah-owned Al Manar television said its journalist Ali Shuaib was killed in an Israeli strike targeting the vehicle he was in.

The Israeli military accused Shuaib of being “a terrorist” operating under the “guise of a journalist” who was exposing locations of Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon.

Al Manar called Shuaib an “icon of resistance media” in its report announcing his death.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was investigating the attack, adding that “journalists are not legitimate targets, regardless of the outlet they work for.”

“We have seen a disturbing pattern in this war and in the decades prior of Israel accusing journalists of being active combatants and terrorists without providing credible evidence,” the CPJ said in its statement.

Two other journalists, siblings Fatima and Mohammad Ftouni, were also killed in the Israeli strike, the pro-Iran and pro-Hezbollah Al Mayadeen channel said, with the Lebanese presidency calling the attack a “blatant crime.”

“Once again, the Israeli aggression is violating the most basic rules of international laws and international humanitarian law and the laws of war, by targeting press reporters, who are ultimately civilians performing a professional duty,” the presidency posted on X.

The Israeli statement did not mention the other two journalists killed.

Lebanon’s information minister, Paul Morcos, said at a press conference that the government will file a complaint with the UN Security Council over what he described as Israel’s “deliberate and blatant war crime against the media and the mission of journalism.”

“We adhere to international agreements that prioritize positive distinction for journalists, ensuring their protection and neutrality in times of war,” Morcos said.

Israel is carrying out an escalating offensive against the Iran-allied Hezbollah militant group in southern Lebanon.

“This vest was supposed to protect my colleagues”

Al Mayadeen posted footage of what it said was Fatima and Mohammad Ftouni’s father saying that he was “truly proud of them.”

“As a father to them, I hold my head up high,” he said. “The eye (fills with) tears, the heart is in pain, and the walk continues. But we don’t get defeated and broken, no.”

In a broadcast after the strike, Jamal Al-Gharabi, one of the Ftounis’ colleagues on Al Mayadeen, stood next to the charred remains of the car where they and Shuaib died.

“This is the car – a civilian car,” he said, claiming that it had been hit by multiple missiles. Al-Gharabi held up a bullet-proof vest marked “press” in Arabic, its bottom edge torn.

“This vest, this vest was supposed to protect my colleagues,” he said, his voice breaking. He began to shout. “Yes, this vest was supposed to protect them!”

Al-Gharabi picked up another vest, saying it belonged to Fatima Ftouni.

“What can this vest do in the face of Israel’s aggression?” Al-Gharabi said. “Where are international laws that protect journalists and civilians?”

The scene mirrored one two years ago, when Fatima Ftouni said she survived an October 2024 Israeli strike that the CPJ said hit a compound housing 18 journalists in southern Lebanon, killing two journalists and a media worker. In a video published by Al Mayadeen, she stood in front of a destroyed car, holding her helmet, press vest and microphone.

“This is what remains of my vest, my helmet,” she said, before holding up her microphone, “and the weapon that we carry.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.