Al-Manar, MTV, NNA crews survive Israeli strike in Lebanon

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
23 Dec 2023 13:45
3 Shares

Al-Manar cameraman Khodor Markiz sustained slight injuries to the eye as a result of the Israeli artillery shelling.

Al-Manar cameraman, Khodor Markiz, hospitalized with a bandage over his eye after sustaining injuries following an Israeli artillery shelling that had targeted him and Al-Manar war correspondent Ali Shoeib, December 23, 2023. (social media)

Lebanese broadcasters Al-Manar and MTV's crews were targeted by an Israeli strike in the Khardali area in southern Lebanon.

An artillery shell fell close to Al-Manar's crewmembers, which included Al-Manar's prominent war correspondent Ali Shoeib and cameraman Khodor Markiz.

The two journalists survived the close call, however, cameraman Markiz sustained injuries to the eye as a result of the Israeli artillery shelling.

أرواحنا بيد الله ..
وليست بيد العدو الإسرائيلي المجرم !!

الله سلم ودفع ما كان أعظم .
طريق الخردلي - دير ميماس pic.twitter.com/ZamTueWyal
— علي شعيب || Ali Shoeib 🇱🇧 (@alishoeib1970) December 23, 2023

Shortly afterward, Ali Shoeib wrote a few short lines in his post on X.

"Our souls are in the hands of God, and not those of the criminal enemy!!"

"God has spared [us] and pushed back what has been grave."

Additionally, the Lebanese National News Agency reported that its correspondent in Marjayoun, Aline Samaan, had escaped hostile Israeli shelling that targeted the area.

The Israeli occupation has been systematically targeting journalists in both Gaza and Lebanon since the onset of the war. Notably, three from Al Mayadeen's own, correspondent Farah Omar, cameraman Rabih Me'mari, and stringer Hussein Aqeel were killed on November 21 in a premeditated airstrike that targeted the group in Tayr Harfa, South Lebanon.

IOF intentionally killed journalists and their families in Gaza: CPJ

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has accused the Israeli occupation forces of targeting journalists and their families in Gaza, leading to the highest death toll of media workers in any recent war.

During the initial 10 weeks of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the number of journalists killed surpassed the annual total in any single country, it stressed.

“CPJ is particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military. In at least one case, a journalist was killed while clearly wearing press insignia in a location where no fighting was taking place. In at least two other cases, journalists reported receiving threats from Israeli officials and Israel Forces officers before their family members were killed,” the CPJ detailed in its statement.

"Israel" has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, constituting approximately 1% of Gaza's population, with over 8,000 of them being children.

The CPJ added that there was a “pattern of journalists in Gaza reporting receiving threats, and subsequently, their family members being killed.” The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that the father of Al-Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif, who is 90 years old, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his residence following numerous threats directed at his son.

The Committee previously reported that an Israeli airstrike resulted in the killing of eight members of photojournalist Yasser Qudih's family. This massacre occurred after the pro-Israeli group Honest Reporting claimed that Qudih and three other Gaza-based photographers had prior "knowledge of the Hamas attack on Israel."