On Wednesday, hundreds of mourners in Beirut paid their respects to the two reporters from the pan-Arab station Al Mayadeen who were murdered the day before in an Israeli airstrike on the southern region of Lebanon.
Outside the Al Mayadeen offices in Beirut, the two coffins of journalist Farah Omar and camera operator Rabih al-Maamari, both covered with Lebanese flags and crowned with floral wreaths, drew throngs of people.
The killings brought the total number of journalists murdered reporting the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and its spread to other areas, such as the border area between Lebanon and Israel, where Israeli and Lebanese Hezbollah troops have been exchanging fire since October 7, to over fifty, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Al Mayadeen accused Israel of deliberately targeting the TV crew because the channel was known to be pro-Palestinian and supportive of Iran’s regional military alliance, which includes Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday called the killing of the two journalists an “assassination”.
Israel’s military said it was “aware of a claim regarding journalists … who were killed as a result of (Israeli army) fire…This is an area with active hostilities, where exchange of fire occur. Presence in the area is dangerous”.
Al Mayadeen said the Israeli strike occurred near the town of Tayr Harfa, about a mile from the Israeli frontier. A third person, who was not working with the channel but was accompanying them as they filmed, was also killed.
Wednesday marked 80 years since Lebanon’s independence from France. In a written statement, veteran parliament speaker Nabih Berri said: “On independence day this year, minutes or even eternities of silence are not enough to mourn” the two Al Mayadeen reporters and others killed by Israel’s military.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday called the killing of the two journalists an “assassination”.
The Israeli military has previously said it cannot guarantee journalists’ safety in areas of military activity. Israeli authorities have sought to block Al Mayadeen’s websites and seize equipment linked to the station.
On Nov. 13, pan Arab network Al-Jazeera said one of its crew members was lightly wounded in Israeli shelling on the border town of Yaroun.
