Top News

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has strongly condemned the Israeli airstrike in Al-Tairi village in South Lebanon. In this attack, veteran journalist Amal Khalil was killed and his colleague photographer Zainab Faraz was seriously injured. The Prime Minister has called this incident a crime against humanity and a war crime. On Wednesday, Amal Khalil and Zainab Faraj were reporting in Al-Tairi village in southern Lebanon. She was traveling in a vehicle. Suddenly there was an Israeli air attack on the car in front of them, in which two people were killed.

After this attack, both the journalists got scared and tried to run away and take shelter in a nearby building. But at the same time that building was also attacked again. Lebanese officials have called this a ‘double-firing’ or ‘double-tap attack’, that is, a first attack, then a second attack if an attempt to defend itself is made. Paramedics somehow saved Zainab Faraz and took her to the hospital. But Amal Khalil got buried under the debris. Rescue teams tried to reach them several times, but had to retreat due to Israeli firing. Eventually, more than seven hours after the attack, at around midnight, Amal Khalil’s body was recovered from the debris.

When was the last contact?

According to colleagues and media reports, Amal Khalil was last contacted at around 4:10 pm local time (13:10 GMT). At that time he called his family members and the Lebanese Army. After that they lost contact. Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said rescue workers were initially successful in retrieving the bodies of two people killed in the attack, but were delayed when Israeli forces opened fire as they tried to reach Amal Khalil.

Who was Amal Khalil?

Amal Khalil was born in 1984 in Baysariyeh village of South Lebanon. She was an experienced journalist of Al-Akhbar newspaper. She had been continuously reporting from the region since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war. His recent reporting focused mainly on Lebanese villages where Israeli soldiers are deployed and demolishing homes. Earlier this year he had said in an interview, ‘My work is to bring to the world the courage and resilience of the people of Lebanon’s border villages. I want to break the lie that Israel only targets military targets. I show evidence of bombings of houses, farms and deaths of children. Through my reporting, I try to show solidarity with these people. Unfortunately, Amal Khalil is the ninth journalist killed in Lebanon this year.

Prime Minister’s reactions

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that deliberately targeting journalists, stopping rescue teams and then attacking their positions again is a clear war crime. He accused Israel of hiding the truth of its aggressive actions against Lebanon. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun expressed deep condolences on the death of Amal Khalil and wished Zainab Faraj a speedy recovery. He wrote on his X handle that Israel is continuously targeting journalists so that it can hide its misdeeds. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemned this murder. He said that this is a warning to the international community. CPJ regional director Sarah Cudahy said, ‘Holding medical teams from rescuing injured people is a cruel crime. We saw it in Gaza and now it is happening again in Lebanon. Unarmed journalist Amal remained trapped under the debris for more than seven hours, while the Red Cross was not allowed to rescue her. Al Jazeera reporter Heidi Pate said that Amal Khalil was a highly respected journalist in Lebanon. During the last war, he received direct threats on WhatsApp from an Israeli number, telling him to stop reporting or leave Lebanon if he wanted to save his life.

Israel’s response

The Israeli army has denied these allegations. He said they did not deliberately target journalists and did not prevent rescue teams from reaching the scene. He has said to review the entire matter. It is noteworthy that less than a month ago, three journalists had died in another similar ‘double shooting’ attack in southern Lebanon.