Reports have emerged from Lebanese media that an Israeli assault in the early hours of Friday morning resulted in the deaths of at least three media staff working for multiple news outlets, while they were asleep in a Hadbaya guesthouse, located in the southern region of Lebanon. The deceased include Ghassan Najjar, a cameraman, Mohammed Reda, an engineer, both of whom were affiliated with the pro-Iranian news channel Al-Mayadeen, and an unspecified cameraman from the Al-Manar organization, associate of Hizbullah. These individuals were supposedly based in a bungalow that was directly targeted.
Ghassan bin Jiddo, Al-Mayadeen’s director, criticised these attacks on the media professional’s accommodation, as deliberate targeted aggression that resulted not only in death but injury to press staff from a variety of Arab networks. He held the Israeli forces accountable for this horrific act of violence, accusing them of purposely aiming at journalist teams, inclusive of those from Al-Mayadeen.
An official response from Israel remains absent. This devastating development emerged a day after an Israeli assault destroyed a Beirut office utilised by the Al-Mayadeen in the city’s southern suburbs. According to Lebanon’s health ministry, the attack resulted in one fatality and wounded five others, one of them being a minor.
With Lebanon’s authorities asserting that the Israeli military’s aggressive campaign has inflicted the fatality of over 2,500 individuals and displaced more than a million, a humanitarian catastrophe is inevitable. In a separate incident occurring on Thursday, three Lebanon soldiers perished due to an Israeli attack as they attempted to evacuate injured party from the boundary village of Yater, this information shared by Lebanon’s military. The Israeli Armed Forces have yet to comment on this matter.
The US has declared that Israel should be engaging in strategies to mitigate civilian casualties and prevent harm to U.N. peacekeeper or Lebanese military personnel within their offensives in Gaza and Lebanon. Meanwhile Israel, which has faced considerable censure for bombing hospitals and academic institutions, states that they selectively target Hamas and Hizbullah militants, claiming they manipulate civilians for protective purposes.
In an updated account from The Committee to Protect Journalists, it was revealed that, as of October 24th, the ongoing Gaza conflict has seen the death of no less than 128 journalists and media personnel. This data, dating back to when recordkeeping began in 1992, indicates this being the most hazardous period for journalists. Out of the total, a vast majority, 123, were Palestinians, two were Israelis and the remaining three were of Lebanese origin.
Assigned to conflict-ridden Lebanon, five journalists have lost their lives in the past year. Among them was a journalist affiliated with Reuters visual media. The region has been enduring a month-long military assault from Israel, the adversary being the Iranian-backed Lebanese faction, Hizbullah. Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has counselled Israel about the risks of following a prolonged military strategy in Lebanon.
In an address given in Doha, Blinken urged Israel to pursue operations aimed at mitigating threats to its own people along the Lebanon-Israel frontier. However, he emphatically expressed his belief that such operations must not extend into an ongoing campaign. The Secretary also conveyed his hope that Iran will grasp the serious implications of any further attacks on Israel, viewed as against its own interests. Israel has renounced any future Iranian missile onslaught, pledging retaliation for the October 1st attack.
Negotiators from Israel and the US are scheduled to convene in Doha to strategise anew for a ceasefire in Gaza. This renewed strategy also involves planning the release of hostages held captive in the Palestinian domain, as confirmed by representatives from Qatar and Washington. Past efforts for such a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement have been unsuccessful.
This undertaking marks the first for Antony Blinken in the region since the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the orchestrator of an October 7th, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked widespread conflict across the Middle East. Both Israel and its principal ally, Washington, have hopes that Sinwar’s demise may act as a motivating force towards ending the ongoing hostilities.
The Jerusalem offensive in Gaza has resulted in the death of an estimated 43,000 people, according to figures from Gaza officials. Further, it has left the area largely decimated. The day following Hamas’s October 7th, 2023 assault on southern Israel, Hizbullah launched attacks against Israel. The assault resulted in the death of 1,200 individuals and the forced abduction of 250 more, based on data from Israel.