An investigation by The Guardian has revealed that Israel used US ammunition to kill three journalists and wound three others in an attack on October 25 in southern Lebanon, something that legal experts have described as a possible war crime.
On October 25, at 3:19 in the morning, an Israeli plane fired two bombs at a house where three journalists were staying: cameraman Ghassan Najjar and technician Mohammad Reda, from the pro-Hezbollah media outlet Al Mayadeen, as well as the cameraman Wissam Qassem, from the Al Manar media outlet, also close to the Gazan government.
The three died while they were sleeping in the attack, in which three other journalists from different media who were in the vicinity were also injured. There was no fighting in the area before or at the time of the attack.
The Guardian visited the site, interviewed the property owner and journalists present at the time of the attack, analyzed shrapnel found at the site of the attack, and geolocated Israeli surveillance equipment within range of the journalists’ positions.
Based on the Guardian’s findings, three experts in international humanitarian law declared that the attack could constitute a war crime and called for further investigation.
“All indications show that this was a deliberate attack against journalists: a war crime. It was clearly marked as a place where journalists were staying,” said Nadim Houry, a human rights lawyer and executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative.
Following the attack, the Israeli army declared that it had hit a “Hezbollah military structure,” and that “terrorists were inside the structure.” A few hours after the attack, the Israeli military said the attack was “under review” following reports that journalists had been hit in the bombing.
The Guardian found no evidence of the presence of Hezbollah military infrastructure at the site of the Israeli attack, nor that any of the journalists were anything other than civilians. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for clarification on which of the journalists were Hezbollah militants or on the status of the review of the attack.
“Ghassan was not a member of Hezbollah, he was a member of the press. He never had a gun, not even for hunting. His weapon was his camera,” said Sana Najjar, wife of Ghassan Najjar, in a conversation with The Guardian. Ghassan left behind a three-and-a-half-year-old son.
The coffin of one of the journalists, Qassem, from Al Manar, was buried wrapped in a Hezbollah flag. The practice is a tribute to individuals or families who profess political support for the group, but does not indicate that the journalist held a political or military role in Hezbollah.
Regardless of their political affiliation, the killing of journalists is illegal under international humanitarian law unless they are actively involved in military activities.
Janina Dill, co-director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, said: “It is a dangerous trend, already seen in Gaza, for journalists to become linked to military operations by virtue of their perceived political affiliation or inclination, and then to apparently become a target of attacks. This is not compatible with international law.”
A day after Israel began its ground offensives inside Lebanon, a group of about 18 journalists arrived in October at a house in Hasbaya, in the south of the country. The Israeli advance had forced them to move from Ebl al-Saqi, a town in southern Lebanon where they had remained for the last 11 months to cover the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.
They chose this Druze-majority town because of its lack of affiliation with Hezbollah and because it had not been the target of Israeli attacks before, according to Yumna Fawaz, a journalist for the Lebanese channel MTV present on the day of the attack.
The guesthouses were owned by a Lebanese-American, Anoir Ghaida, who said he searched the home and car of the journalists after the attack “like someone looking for a needle in a haystack,” but found “nothing suspicious.”
Reporters used the houses as a base for 23 days, traveling to the top of a hill, a 10-minute drive away, to film the hostilities and conduct live coverage each day. From the hill you could see the border towns of Chebaa and Khiam, where fighting between Hezbollah and Israel continued. They drove cars marked “Press” and wore bulletproof vests and helmets with press symbols.
The top of the hill was in the direct line of sight of three Israeli watchtowers, all about 10 km from the scene. Israeli surveillance towers are typically equipped with “Speed-er” cameras, which can automatically track targets up to 10 km away, as well as video, thermal and infrared imaging capabilities.
Other journalists in the group stated that the presence of Israeli reconnaissance drones was “constant” both over the scene and over Hasbaya’s house during his 23-day stay there.
“On the night of the attack, we were sitting in front of the houses and the drone was flying very low above us,” said Fatima Ftouni, an al-Mayadeen journalist who was staying a few houses down from her colleagues when they were attacked.
Ftouni went to bed, but was awakened a few hours later by the sound of an explosion. He emerged from the rubble of the roof of his house and looked for his helmet. His bulletproof vest had been shredded by the force of the explosion. He left the smoke-filled room and found his companions dead on the floor.
The house where Najjar, Reda and Qassem were sleeping had been directly hit by a bomb dropped by an Israeli plane, and another bomb had fallen next to the structure.
Remnants of ammunition found at the site revealed that at least one of the weapons was a 500-pound MK-80 series bomb guided by an American-made JDAM, a kit that converts large dummy bombs into guided weapons. precision.
The fragments were verified by Trevor Ball, a former US Army bomb disposal specialist, a second weapons expert from the Omega Research Foundation and a third weapons expert who was not authorized to speak to the media.
A piece of the tail fin of the JDAM, manufactured by Boeing, was found, as well as part of the internal control section that moves the fin. A cage code on the rest of the control section revealed that it had been produced by Woodward, a Colorado-based aerospace company. Neither Boeing nor Woodward responded to requests for comment.
The use of at least one precision-guided bomb would imply that the Israeli army selected the house where the three journalists were as a target before the attack. The presence of drones and surveillance towers over the group of clearly identified journalists during the previous 23 days makes it likely that Israeli forces knew their location and their status as members of the press.
A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the attack in Hasbaya, but stated that the United States “has consistently urged Israel to ensure the protection of civilians, including journalists.”
Under US law, if a country uses US-supplied weapons in a war crime, military aid to that country must be suspended. Despite evidence of several cases in which Israel has used US munitions to commit potential war crimes, US military aid to Israel has continued unaffected.
Israel has killed six journalists in Lebanon and at least 122 in Gaza and the West Bank since October 7, 2023, the deadliest period for journalists in the last four decades, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
According to Irene Khan, UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Israeli authorities are “blatantly ignoring” their international legal obligations to protect journalists: “The Guardian story What happened in southern Lebanon coincides with the pattern of murders and attacks by Israeli forces against journalists in Gaza. The targeted killings, the excuse that the attacks were directed against armed groups without providing any evidence to support the claim, the failure to conduct thorough investigations, all appear to be part of a deliberate strategy by the Israeli military to silence critical information about the war and hinder the documentation of possible international war crimes.
Despite statements that it would review certain attacks against journalists, the Israeli military has yet to release any information regarding investigations into its murders of journalists. “It is the silence of the international community that has allowed this to happen,” said Ftouni.
The attacks on journalists in Hasbaya and other parts of southern Lebanon have had a chilling effect on Lebanese media workers, who no longer know where they can work safely.
Meanwhile, the journalists’ families are unable to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones.
“He really was a great man. I know he seemed so big, but he was actually a kind man. And he was so, so funny,” Najjar said of her husband, Ghassan: “I still can’t believe Ghassan is dead. I keep waiting for the door to open and come in. “He promised me that one day we would grow old and go live together in the south, but now he stayed there and I will stay here, in Beirut, forever.”
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