Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday condemned an alleged Israeli strike on a residence housing journalists as a “new chapter of war crimes,” as two people were killed in northern Israel by shelling from Lebanon.
Three media workers were killed and three others injured in an Israeli airstrike in the town of Hasbiyya, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Friday.
After meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London, Mikati accused Israel of deliberately targeting media representatives in order to deter journalists from reporting on its offensive in southern Lebanon against the Iran-back Hezbollah militia.
Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said in a post on X that 18 journalists were present at the residence when it was hit.
Footage from the scene showed a destroyed building and wrecked cars, some of which were marked as press vehicles.
The pro-Iran Al Mayadeen TV reported that a cameraman and a technician linked to the broadcaster were killed early on Friday in an Israeli attack on the residence in the town of Hasbiyya.
The broadcaster Al Manar, a Hezbollah mouthpiece, said its cameraman was also killed in the strike.
Al Mayadeen head Ghassan Ben Jeddou held Israel fully responsible for what he said was a “war crime.”
The attack was directed at a Hezbollah military structure and took place while Hezbollah fighters were in the building, the Israeli army said, adding that the incident would be investigated.
This shows that being in the proximity of Hezbollah and its infrastructure poses a danger, it added.
Late on Friday, at least three Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburb, targeting what Israel described as infrastructure of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia.
The strikes hit the area of Haret Hreik and black smoke was seen billowing in the air from the targeted area. The sound of loud explosions was heard across the capital Lebanese capital.
The strikes came shortly after the Israeli army warned that it will hit specific neighbourhoods close to Beirut International Airport.
Health Ministry says 163 workers killed in conflict
Maliki’s comments came more than three weeks after Israel launched its ground offensive in southern Lebanon, aiming to drive Hezbollah back from border regions.
Long-simmering tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which last culminated in a major war in 2006, erupted again shortly after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched its unprecedented attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
In the past year, hundreds have been killed, thousands injured in Lebanon and thousands displaced on both sides of the border.
The fighting has also taken its toll on health workers in Lebanon, official figures showed on Friday, with at least 163 killed in Israeli attacks. Some 272 others have been injured, the Lebanese Health Ministry added.
At least eight hospitals and more than 100 other medical facilities have had to cease operations due to Israeli attacks in the past years.
The World Health Organization said the figure corresponds to almost a third of all health facilities in the country, already hurt from the economic crisis. Around 30% of doctors and nurses have already left the country due to the crisis, the health ministry estimates.
Two killed in northern Israel
Northern Israel has also suffered amid the cross-border exchanges over the past year, as demonstrated again on Friday when two people were killed and seven injured with shrapnel wounds, one seriously, in shelling from Lebanon.
Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom said a 19-year-old woman and 21-year-old man were killed in Majd al-Kurm, an Arab-majority town in Galilee.
According to the Israeli military, the incident saw a gym hit by shelling, amid a wave of 30 missiles fired towards the area.
Hezbollah meanwhile claimed responsibility for an attack on the neighbouring town of Karmiel. It said it had fired a volley of rockets at the town, which is predominantly Jewish.
Israel reports five soldiers killed
Casualties are also mounting in the Israeli military, which on Friday said five more soldiers have been killed and four seriously injured in southern Lebanon in an attack on Thursday.
The men were reservists aged between 28 and 51, it added.
Israeli media reported that a missile had exploded near the soldiers.
Another reservist was seriously wounded in Lebanon on Friday morning, it reported. On Thursday, Israel said five soldiers were killed in combat in two separate incidents.
UNIFIL reports further attacks
The ongoing conflict has led to repeated incidents with the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, which on Friday said its posts have again been attacked by the Israeli military after repeated attacks throughout the week.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said it will continue to monitor the situation in southern Lebanon, despite the dramatic escalation of violence.
