Mikati says Israel's deliberate journalists targeting 'a war crime'

Caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of intentionally targeting journalists after a strike in the country's south on Friday killed three media workers, in what he called a "war crime".

"The new Israeli aggression targeting journalists" was among the "war crimes committed by the Israeli enemy", Mikati said in a statement, adding the attack was "deliberate" and "aims to terrorize the media to cover up crimes and destruction".

Information Minister Ziad Makary also condemned the attack on a compound housing journalists and said it was an “assassination” and “a war crime.”

In a statement, Makary said there were 18 journalists representing seven media organizations at the compound in the town of Hasbaya in south Lebanon.

The Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV said two of its staffers — camera operator Ghassan Najar and broadcast technician Mohammed Reda — were among the journalists killed early Friday. Al-Manar TV said its camera operator Wissam Qassem was also killed in the airstrike.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment on the strike in Lebanon.

Ghassan bin Jiddo, the director of Al-Mayadeen, said in a social media post that the journalists were deliberately targeted.

“We hold the (Israeli) occupation fully responsible for this war crime, in which journalist crews, including the Al-Mayadeen team, were targeted,” he said.