Probes: IOF strike killing Al Mayadeen, Manar crews possible war crime
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Two independent investigations by The Guardian and HRW look into the fact that Al Mayadeen's two crew members and Al Manar's cameraman were deliberately targeted by the Israeli occupation in their sleep.
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Impact of Israeli strike on Hasbayya, which targeted and killed three journalists and injured three others in South Lebanon, on October 25, 2024 (Social media)
"Israel" used a US-made munition in an airstrike on October 25 in South Lebanon, which targeted and killed three journalists and injured three others, a Guardian investigation revealed, which legal experts have classified as a potential war crime.
At 3:19 am on October 25, an Israeli fighter jet dropped two bombs on a chalet where three journalists were staying—Al Mayadeen's cameraman Ghassan Najjar and technician Mohammad Reda and Al Manar's cameraman Wissam Qassem. The three journalists were killed while they slept. The attack also wounded three other journalists from various outlets who were staying nearby. There had been no fighting in the area before or at the time of the strike.
The Guardian visited the site, spoke with the property owner and journalists who survived the attack, examined shrapnel recovered from the scene, and traced Israeli surveillance equipment near the journalists' location. Based on these pieces of evidence, three international humanitarian law experts concluded that the attack could qualify as a war crime and called for a thorough investigation.
“All the indications show that this would have been a deliberate targeting of journalists: a war crime. This was clearly delineated as a place where journalists were staying,” said Nadim Houry, a human rights lawyer and executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative.
A separate investigation by Human Rights Watch corroborated these findings, determining that Israeli forces carried out the attack using US-made weapons, including a JDAM guidance kit.
“Israel’s use of US arms to unlawfully attack and kill journalists away from any military target is a terrible mark on the United States as well as Israel,” said Richard Weir, senior crisis, conflict, and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Israeli military’s previous deadly attacks on journalists without any consequences give little hope for accountability in this or future violations against the media.”
Human Rights Watch, in its report, stated that the aggression was most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime.
To justify the attack, the Israeli occupation claimed it had targeted a "Hezbollah military structure" where "terrorists were located inside the structure." However, just hours later, the occupation released a statement that the incident was "under review" after reports emerged that journalists were the target of the strike.
No sign of Hezbollah
According to The Guardian's investigation, there was no evidence of Hezbollah infrastructure at the site and all the journalists were not affiliated to the Resistance group. Meanwhile, the Israeli military did not respond to requests for clarification.
Ghassan Najjar, one of the journalists killed in the October 25 Israeli airstrike, was described by his wife, Sana Najjar, as a dedicated member of the press who never carried a weapon.
“His weapon was his camera,” she said. Najjar left behind a grieving wife and a three-and-a-half-year-old son.
The Guardian clarified that while Al Manar's Wissam Qassem was buried wrapped in a Hezbollah flag, this did not necessarily suggest he was a member of the group. Instead, it could indicate his family's support for Hezbollah.
Regardless of political affiliation, the killing of journalists is prohibited under international humanitarian law, unless they are directly engaged in military activities, The Guardian stressed.
“It is a dangerous trend already witnessed in Gaza that journalists are linked to military operations in virtue of their assumed affiliation or political leanings, then seemingly become targets of attack. This is not compatible with international law," Janina Dill, co-director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, said.
No place is safe for journalists
In October, a group of about 18 journalists relocated to a guest house in Hasbayya, South Lebanon, after Israeli ground offensives forced them to leave Ebl al-Saqi, where they had been covering confrontations between Hezbollah and "Israel" for 11 months. They chose Hasbayya for its neutral stance and lack of prior Israeli strikes, according to journalist Yumna Fawaz, as cited by The Guardian.
The guest houses, owned by Lebanese-American Anoir Ghaida, were searched after the attack, but nothing suspicious was found. The journalists used the location as a base for 23 days, covering the war from a nearby hilltop with views of the border villages of Chebaa and Khiam.
They traveled in marked cars and wore press gear, and the hilltop was within sight of three Israeli watchtowers, which are equipped with advanced tracking and imaging technology. Journalists reported constant surveillance by Israeli reconnaissance drones during their stay.
“On the night of the attack, we were sitting in front of the chalets and the drone was flying super low on top of us,” said Al Mayadeen's journalist, Fatima Ftouni, who was staying a few chalets down from our colleagues when they were struck.
The chalet where Najjar, Reda, and Qassem were sleeping was directly hit by a bomb dropped by an Israeli jet, with another bomb landing nearby.
US bombs target journalists
Fragments recovered from the site confirmed that at least one of the bombs used in the strike was a 500lb MK-80 series bomb, equipped with a US-made JDAM guidance kit, which converts conventional bombs into precision-guided munitions.
The remnants were examined and authenticated by Trevor Ball, a former US Army bomb disposal expert, as well as a second specialist from the Omega Research Foundation and a third weapons expert who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Among the recovered parts were pieces of the JDAM's tail fin, manufactured by Boeing, and a section of the internal control mechanism made by Woodward, a Colorado-based aerospace company.
Both Boeing and Woodward declined to comment.
The use of a precision-guided weapon indicates that the Israeli military likely targeted the journalists' chalet deliberately. Given that drones and watchtowers had been observing the journalists for the preceding 23 days, it is likely that Israeli forces were aware of their identities and their press affiliation.
US breaks its own laws when it comes to 'Israel'
The Guardian stated that under US law, if a country uses US-supplied arms to commit war crimes, military aid to that country should be suspended. Despite several instances where US-made munitions have been used by "Israel" to carry out war crimes, US military assistance to "Israel" has continued without interruption.
Since October 7, 2023, "Israel" has killed six journalists in Lebanon and at least 122 in Gaza and the West Bank, marking the deadliest period for journalists in the last 40 years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, cited by The Guardian.
Meanwhile, Gaza's Government Media Office puts the number of journalists killed by "Israel" at 189.
In November last year, Al Mayadeen's correspondent in South Lebanon, Farah Omar, alongside photojournalist Rabih Me'mari, were martyred on November 21 by an Israeli bombing that deliberately targeted them along with their civilian companion Hussein Aqil after they had just finished their live broadcast.
There were several condemnations against the attack, but "Israel" is still not held accountable for its war crime.
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