Strikes in Lebanon that killed a journalist with the Reuters news agency and wounded six others two weeks ago were deliberate and targeted, according to the preliminary findings of a Reporters Without Borders investigation.
"The initial findings of the investigation show that the reporters were not collateral victims," the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said of the 13 October strikes that killed video journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists in southern Lebanon.
"Two strikes in the same place in such a short space of time…from the same direction, clearly indicate precise targeting."
The journalists believe they were hit by fire coming from the Israeli side of the border.
While the RSF findings did not explicitly confirm this, it did say that its ballistic analysis found that “the shots came from the east of where the journalists were standing; from the direction of the Israeli border".
Journalists clearly identified
The RSF report, based on what the group described as a "thorough analysis of eyewitness accounts, video footage and ballistics expertise", established that two strikes within a minute hit a spot where the group of seven journalists had been for more than an hour.
The first strike killed Abdallah, the second, more powerful, ignited the vehicle and injured several journalists.
"One of their vehicles, marked 'press', was targeted, and it was also clear that the group stationed next to it was journalists," the report said.
"It is unlikely that the journalists were mistaken for combatants, especially as they were not hiding: in order to have a clear field of vision, they had been in the open for more than an hour, on the top of a hill."
Trading fire, trading blame
The Israeli military and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah have been trading fire since the 7 October attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas sparked sparking retaliatory bombing of Gaza.
Lebanon's army and government have blamed Israel for Abdallah's death.
The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment on the findings.
It has said it does not deliberately target journalists and that it is investigating the strike.
The news agency has called for a “swift, thorough and transparent probe into what happened”.
Two AFP journalists were injured, and the agency has called on authorities in both Israel and Lebanon to conduct a comprehensive investigation.
RSF’s investigation is ongoing, though it decided to publish preliminary findings because "we are certain of our findings at this stage and wanted the public to know about them,” according to the head of its Middle East desk, Jonathan Dagher.
"There are other elements which we have not yet been able to confirm,” he added, without elaborating.
(with Reuters, AFP)
