Three journalists have been killed, and three others injured, following an Israeli airstrike on their accommodation in Hasbaya, southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health confirmed the development on Friday.
As violence escalates along the Israel-Lebanon border, the Lebanese Minister of Information, Ziad Makary, denounced the deaths as an “assassination” and a “war crime”.
In a statement on his X account, Makary asserted that “the Israeli enemy waited for the journalists to rest at night in order to betray them in their sleep”.
He added that the journalists had been actively covering ongoing conflict, alleging that the strike was a “premeditated” act of targeting, as 18 journalists from seven media outlets were at the location.
He said, “The Israeli enemy waited for the journalists to rest at night in order to betray them in their sleep, and during the past months they did not stop covering the news in the field and transmitting it to reveal its described crimes.
“This was an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with a premeditated design, as 18 journalists representing 7 media organizations were present at the scene.
“This is a war crime.
“Mercy to the martyrs Ghassan Najjar, Muhammad Reda, and Wissam Qassem, and condolences to their families, and to their institutions, specifically Al-Mayadeen and Al-Manar TV channels.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported the deaths of ten soldiers involved in recent clashes in Lebanon.
However, the IDF clarified that these fatalities did not occur in the past 24 hours and that families of the deceased soldiers had been previously notified.