Comment on this storyComment
BEIRUT – A Portal videographer was killed and six other journalists wounded in southern Lebanon on Friday when the area from which they were reporting was hit by Israeli fire, according to two colleagues who spoke to the injured journalists in hospital and an eyewitness.
Charbel Francis, a cameraman for Al Araby TV, said he was filming a barrage of Israeli fire on a hill while standing about 15 meters from the other journalists when the attack landed. The battle took place in the distance and there was no indication of fire coming from Lebanon near the journalists.
“We didn’t see anything launched [from Lebanon]“Everything fell” on the hill, he said, referring to Israeli shelling.
Issam Abdallah died after Israeli shelling hit an area housing international journalists in southern Lebanon on October 13, colleagues said. (Video: Portal)
“We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer Issam Abdallah has been killed,” a Portal statement said, adding that Abdallah was part of a Portal team in southern Lebanon providing live coverage of skirmishes along the border delivered. The statement did not elaborate on who was responsible for the attack on Abdallah and the other journalists. Two other Portal journalists, Thaer al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, “sustained injuries and are seeking medical attention,” the news agency said.
Journalists from the news channel Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse were also injured in the strike.
Al Jazeera said the journalists had all gathered in one location in Alma al-Chaab, a village in southern Lebanon, for security reasons. In a video released Friday by AFP reporter Christina Assi, who was among those injured, several journalists were seen wearing blue bulletproof vests with the words “Press” written on them.
The injured Al Jazeera journalists were Elie Brakhya, a cameraman, and Carmen Joukhadar, a correspondent, the broadcaster said. AFP identified the other injured journalist as Dylan Collins.
The Associated Press – which had a photographer on site – reported that an Israeli shell landed near the group during a shootout with Hezbollah. The area had previously been the target of Israeli attacks, according to a Lebanese security source cited by AFP.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment. Colleagues of the injured journalists spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the incident.
Reporters Without Borders said Abdallah was killed “by an Israeli attack while reporting on the situation on the southern border” in Lebanon. The press association described it as a “heinous crime against journalists” and said it would “continue its investigation into the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.”
Al Jazeera said in a statement that it “holds Israel legally and morally responsible for this brutal attack and calls on the international community to take action to ensure the safety of journalists.”
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a mission established in 1978 to monitor the Lebanon-Israel border, said in a statement posted on social media that there was a “heavy exchange of fire” in the area as of 5 p.m. came: 8:00 p.m. Live footage from several news channels showed what appeared to be sustained shelling on Lebanese territory that lasted about an hour.
“We are deeply saddened to hear that a Lebanese videographer was killed and other journalists were reportedly injured in this shootout,” the UNIFIL statement said.
A livestream from the area showed the hillside when the explosion struck. A woman can be heard screaming: “I can’t feel my legs” before the lining is cut off. Lebanese television broadcasts showed a woman in a press vest writhing on the ground as fire rose and a car burned in the background.
Violence at the border on Friday as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip increased fears that the conflict could spread to Lebanon.
“The potential for this escalation to spiral out of control is clear and must be stopped,” UNIFIL said.
Abdallah, 37, a Beirut-based video journalist, had covered conflicts in Syria and Ukraine as well as other major events, including earthquakes that devastated southern Turkey this year. A wide circle of colleagues, friends and admirers posted Honors On Friday, he addressed Abdallah on social media and held a vigil for him in Beirut.
“He was truly one of the kindest, most heartwarming people you could know. “Completely selfless, a bunch of laughs and an extremely kind person,” said Tariq Keblaoui, who said Abdallah helped him escape a protest rally that was attacked several weeks ago.
Abdallah’s last post on Instagram was a tribute to Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist who was shot dead by the Israeli military last year.
Francis reported from Munich.