Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday condemned an alleged Israeli attack 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 city 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 to deter journalists from reporting on its offensive in southern Lebanon against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said in a message on X that 18 journalists were present in the house when it was hit.
Images from the scene showed a destroyed building and wrecked cars, some marked as press vehicles.
The pro-Iran Al Mayadeen TV reported that a cameraman and a technician associated with the broadcaster were killed early Friday in an Israeli attack on the home in the city of Hasbiyya.
Al Manar broadcaster, a spokesman for Hezbollah, said the 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 targeted a Hezbollah military structure and took place while Hezbollah fighters were inside the building, the Israeli military said, adding that the incident would be investigated.
This shows that the proximity of Hezbollah and its infrastructure poses a danger, it added.
Late on Friday, at least three Israeli airstrikes were carried out on the southern suburbs of Beirut, targeting what Israel described as the infrastructure of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia.
The attacks hit the area of ​​Haret Hreik and black smoke was seen in the air from the target area. The sound of loud explosions could be heard throughout the Lebanese capital.
The attacks came shortly after the Israeli military warned it would hit specific neighborhoods near Beirut international airport.
The Health Ministry says 163 workers have been killed in the conflict
Maliki’s comments came more than three weeks after Israel launched its ground offensive in southern Lebanon, aiming to drive Hezbollah back from the border areas.
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.
Over 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 a toll on health workers in Lebanon, official figures showed on Friday, with at least 163 people killed in Israeli attacks. About 272 others were injured, the Lebanese Health Ministry added.
At least eight hospitals and more than a hundred other medical facilities have had to cease operations in recent years due to Israeli attacks.
The World Health Organization said this figure represents almost a third of all health facilities in the country, which have already been affected by the economic crisis. About 30% of doctors and nurses have already left the country due to the crisis, the Ministry of Health estimates.
Two dead in northern Israel
Northern Israel has also suffered from the past year’s cross-border exchanges, as demonstrated again on Friday when two people were killed and seven injured by shrapnel, one seriously, in shelling from Lebanon.
Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom said a 19-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man were killed in Majd al-Kurm, an Arab-majority city in the Galilee.
According to the Israeli military, a sports hall was hit by shelling during the incident, amid a wave of 30 rockets fired into the area.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for an attack on the neighboring city of Karmiel. It said it had fired a volley of rockets into the city, which is predominantly Jewish.
Israel reports that five soldiers have been killed
Casualties are also rising in the Israeli army, which said on Friday that another five soldiers were 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 rocket had exploded near the soldiers.
Another reservist was seriously injured in Lebanon on Friday morning, the country said. On Thursday, Israel said five soldiers were killed in the fighting 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 said on Friday that its posts had been attacked again by the Israeli army after repeated attacks during 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 in violence.
