The southern front flared up again on Tuesday, with the Israeli army targeting a group of journalists in Tayr Harfa. Farah Omar and Rabih Maamari, who respectively worked as a journalist and a photographer with the al-Mayadeen television station, were killed.
Six civilians were also killed, including Hussein Akil, who was with the journalists, four passengers in a car on the road between Chaityeh and Qleileh, and Laika Serhan, an octogenarian woman who was in her home in Kfar Kila. The latter’s granddaughter, Ilaa al-Kassem, was injured in the Israeli strike on their home. The 7-year-old girl was taken to the governmental hospital in Marjeyoun, where she is in critical condition, according to a hospital source reported by AFP.
Reacting to the journalists’ deaths, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the attack “proves that the criminality” of Israel “has no limits” and that “its aim is to silence the media that denounce its crimes.” The Caretaker Minister of Defense, Maurice Slim, sounded a similar note, stressing in a statement that the aim of these attacks is to prevent the media from reporting “the massacres” committed by the Hebrew state.
For his part, MP Mark Daou stressed on his X account that the two journalists killed were “witnesses to Israeli criminality.”
The Journalists’ Association also denounced “a premeditated attack that can be considered murder.” It called on the Federation of Arab Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, and the Federation of Journalists of Asia and Oceania to lodge a complaint against Israel with the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
The Israeli strike that claimed the lives of the two journalists was also denounced by the NBN channel and Hezbollah.
Intensified Bombardment
Artillery exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel resumed in the early hours of the morning. Early Tuesday morning, Hezbollah announced that it had hit a house in Metula containing Israeli soldiers. The Israeli army announced that it had retaliated by shelling the source of the fire.
Hezbollah announced that it had also bombed Hadb al-Bustan and Raheb positions. Additionally, it released a video showing Hezbollah fighters attacking five Israeli army positions along the border.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army shelled the area around Alma al-Shaab, the mountains of Labbouneh and Alamam, as well as the towns of Kfar Kila, Odaisseh, Khiam, Hamames, Helta, Salamieh, Rmeish, Tayr Harfa, and Majdal Zon. Gunfire was also heard from the center of Birkat Risha, near the villages of al-Bustan and Aita al-Shaab.
Israel also shelled an army barracks in Wazzani, causing extensive damage to the building but no casualties. The Israeli army also announced that it had shelled three positions from which anti-tank missiles were launched.
Monday night was also marked by tension, with the Israeli army stepping up its bombardment of towns and villages in the western and central sectors and launching flares, while reconnaissance aircraft flew over the area until the early hours of the morning. Drones also flew over the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura.
