Beirut. AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP
Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah killed on October 13 in southern Lebanon by a strike, and six other journalists, including two from the AFP, injured, were “targeted», affirms the organization Reporters Without Borders in a survey published Sunday. Without categorically blaming the Israeli army, the organization also indicates that “according to the ballistic analysis carried out by RSF, the area from which the shots came is located east of where the group of journalists and their vehicles were targeted, where the border with Israel is located.“.
“Two strikes of different intensities, separated by 37 to 38 seconds, hit, on Friday October 13, around 6:00 p.m. the place where a group of seven journalists had been for more than an hour.» parked on a road to cover the rising tension at the border. Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on October 7, exchanges of fire between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel as well as infiltration attempts by Palestinian militants based in Lebanon have increased.
“The first strike killed Reuters photojournalist Issam Abdallah and seriously injured AFP correspondent Christina Assi, while the second blew up the Al Jazeera vehicle in the immediate vicinity, injuring several of her colleagues.», writes RSF. Wearing helmets and vests with the logo “Press“, “it is impossible that they were mistaken for fighters. They had been out in the open for over an hour high up on a hill, so clearly visible“, says an RSF investigator in the video. “The initial conclusions of the investigation establish that the reporters were not collateral victims of shootings”, according to the organization.
“The existence of two strikes on the same location in such a short space of time (a little over 30 seconds), coming from the same direction, clearly indicates precise targeting.“, she adds, estimating “improbable that the journalists were confused with fighters“. According to two journalists present interviewed in RSF’s video investigation, an Israeli Apache helicopter had flown over the area before the tragedy. Lebanese authorities have accused Israel of being responsible for the strikes. The Israeli army, for its part, declared that it was carrying out checks and said:Sorry“. The AFP is conducting its own investigation and has asked Israel and Lebanon “a thorough investigation“. The Reuters agency also asked Israeli authorities to carry out “a rapid, thorough and transparent investigation“.