Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported Tuesday that Israeli forces opened fire on a group of journalists who were covering the return of residents in Khiam, a town in southern Lebanon. According to the same source, the attack left two injured, who were transferred to hospital to treat their injuries.
These two injured journalists are, according to the Lebanese newspaper The Orient-The Daya photographer from the Associated Press (AP) agency, Mohammad Zaatari, and a reporter from the Russian agency Sputnik, Abdel Qader Al-Bai. Quoted by the newspaper, the head of the Lebanese press editors’ union, Joseph Qosseifi, condemned the incident, saying it constituted “the first violation of the ceasefire agreed on Tuesday”.
“We saw people inspecting their homes and at the same time we heard the sound of tanks retreating”Mr. Al-Bai told Agence France-Presse. “While we were filming, we noticed that there were Israeli soldiers in a building and suddenly they shot at us”he added. “It was clear that we were journalists”he added.
Mr. Al-Bai, as well as a photographer in the group, Ali Hachicho, said they saw a drone in the area before shots were fired. Mr. Hachicho claimed to have spotted Israeli soldiers nearby. “When I brought the camera to my eye, I heard the sound of bullets between our feet”he said.
Neither AP nor Sputnik confirmed that their journalists had been affected.
