Fire from Israel’s vicinity ‘targeted’ and killed a Reuters reporter in Lebanon, a media watchdog finds.

Issam Abdallah, a visual journalist for Reuters, was “targeted” and killed in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13 by one of two strikes from the direction of the Israeli border, despite clearly being identified as a member of the press, Reporters Without Borders said on Sunday, based on an initial investigation by the media watchdog group.

Six other journalists — from Reuters, Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse — were also injured in the attack.

According to the organization’s ballistic analysis, the strikes came from the direction of the Israeli border, east of where the journalists were standing. The report concluded that two strikes in the same place in a span of just over 30 seconds, and from the same direction, indicated a targeted attack.

Based on corroborating witness accounts by the journalists who survived, Reporters Without Borders, also known as RSF, said the first strike killed Mr. Abdallah and seriously injured Christina Assi, an Agence France-Presse correspondent; the second, around 37 to 38 seconds later, targeted a nearby Al Jazeera vehicle, injuring several other journalists.

RSF did not conclude who had launched the strikes against the journalists and did not provide the specific ballistics analysis that supported its preliminary findings, but used it, the group said, in combination with eyewitness accounts and video taken at the scene to reach its conclusion.

Both Lebanon’s government and military have accused Israel of firing the strikes.

Responding to the findings, the Israeli army said in a statement that after a cross-border exchange of fire on Oct. 13, it received reports “a number of hours later” that a civilian had been killed. The statement said the army was reviewing the incident, but noted that “being present in combat zones on either side of the border comes with a severe risk to life.” Israel has asked U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon to ensure that civilians are not present in combat zones.

In a statement, Reuters said it was reviewing RSF’s preliminary analysis and that it had called on Israeli authorities to directly investigate the attack.

“We will continue to fight for the rights of all journalists to report the news in the public interest free of harassment or harm, wherever they are,” the Reuters statement said.

Mr. Abdallah, 37, was killed near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Shaab, which has been a focal point of intensifying clashes in recent weeks between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese group backed by Iran.

Footage filmed shortly before the strike, and verified by The New York Times, showed the journalists standing at the roadside wearing helmets and bulletproof jackets marked “press.”

Mr. Abdallah’s death has sparked an uproar in Lebanon as fears mount over the prospect of a wider regional war.

During his funeral on Oct. 14, hundreds of teary-eyed and visibly angry mourners carried his body, draped in a Lebanese flag, in a procession through Khiam, his hometown, in southern Lebanon.

There, cameras were placed atop his grave.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/30/world/israel-hamas-gaza-war-news/fire-from-israels-vicinity-targeted-and-killed-a-reuters-reporter-in-lebanon-a-media-watchdog-finds?smid=url-share

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