Journalist killed in Lebanon: AFP investigation reveals Israeli army involvement in October 13 strike

An Agence France-Presse investigation published this Thursday into the explosion that killed a Reuters journalist and wounded six other reporters, including two from AFP, in southern Lebanon on October 13, identifies an Israeli tank shell. Reuters, which also conducted its own investigation, comes to the same conclusion.

The AFP conducted a seven-week investigation with a British team of experts and independent Airwars investigators, analyzing and cross-referencing images from six media outlets on the day with statements from journalists, local residents and security sources, and interviewing several weapons experts .

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On Friday, October 13, at 18:02, two consecutive strikes were carried out on a group of journalists located on the heights of Alma al-Shaab, a village located more than a kilometer from the Blue Line, the demarcation line between them. Lebanon and Israel are under UN control. Almost daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Shiite militants from the Lebanese pro-Iranian movement Hezbollah and the local branch of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas are raising fears that the conflict will widen.

Arriving about an hour early, the seven journalists positioned themselves on top of a small hill with a clear view to film live the Israeli bombing, which intensified as the evening wore on. The Israeli army confirms that it is firing artillery in response to an attempt to infiltrate its territory.

“We spent about an hour filming a distant plume of smoke to the south, as well as limited Israeli fire on the hills to the southeast. Just before six o’clock in the evening we turned the cameras to the west and suddenly we were hit. It came out of nowhere,” says AFP video journalist Dylan Collins.

The first blow kills a journalist and seriously injures another. 37 seconds later, the second strike hit an Al Jazeera car, which was located a few meters from the journalists. “When I tried to put a tourniquet on him, we got hit directly again,” said Dylan Collin, who was also wounded. Like all the witnesses at the scene that day, he insists: “There was no military action or artillery fire in the immediate area. »

Who are the victims?

There were seven journalists there: Al Jazeera correspondents Carmen Juhadar and Elie Brakya arrived first, joined by AFP journalists Dylan Collins and Christina Assi, and their Reuters colleagues Issam Abdalla, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Naze.

Issam Abdallah, 37, was killed. Two Reuters colleagues, two Al Jazeera journalists and two from AFP were injured, including 28-year-old photographer Christina Assi, who was seriously injured, had her right leg amputated and remains in hospital.

At the time of the strikes, a group of journalists was filming the Israeli bombing of Lebanon from the top of an open hill. They were all equipped with helmets and body armor with the word “press” written on them, and their cameras were placed prominently on tripods.

According to ten witnesses interviewed (journalists, local residents, representatives of local security forces), in the hour leading up to the “attack” there was no military activity or any signs of the presence of any armed group in the immediate vicinity of the journalists.

Israel conducts “checks”

The investigation alleges that a 120mm finned tank shell used exclusively by the Israeli army in the region was behind the deadly strike. The sequence of two strikes, 37 seconds apart, shows they were targeted, experts interviewed by AFP and Airwars said. Journalists could also be easily identified.

On October 14, Lebanese authorities accused Israel of responsibility for the shooting, citing “premeditated murder.” The Israeli army did not respond to AFP’s question about the findings of the joint investigation with Airwars. She initially said she was “very sorry” for the death of journalist Issam Abdallah, without admitting responsibility, saying she was carrying out “checks.”

An impressive piece of ammunition was photographed and then discovered by a local resident near the body of Issam Abdallah. Photographs of this important evidence were analyzed by six weapons experts consulted by AFP and Airwars. Everyone agrees that it was a piece of a fin-stabilized 120mm tank shell, which is commonly used by the Israeli army on its Merkava tanks.

The conclusions of the Lebanese judicial investigation into the circumstances of the explosion have not yet been made public. A judicial source close to the case and two Lebanese military sources told AFP they had established that Israeli tank fire was behind the first deadly strike.

While Israeli military activity along the Blue Line remains difficult to pinpoint, an AFP investigation has identified at least two Israeli positions active that day. According to military experts consulted by AFP, given the location of the debris, the shot was fired from the east. Satellite images from the same morning and the next day obtained by AFP also show the presence of military vehicles the same size as Merkava tanks very close to Jordeich.

Were the strikes targeted?

The nature of the weapon used in the second strike, which blew up Al Jazeera’s car, has not been established with certainty: some experts believe it was also a tank shell, others hypothesize that it was fired by a drone or even a helicopter. shot.

But everyone agrees on one thing: the fact that the two impacts occurred 37 seconds apart, or four or five meters apart, rules out the possibility that it could have been an accidental explosion.

“The shot hit the operator directly. The second shot hit their car,” adds very close to where the reporters were, adds British expert Chris Cobb-Smith, for whom “these people were the target.”

The investigation sought to determine whether the journalists could have been confused with militants belonging to one or another armed group operating in the region – Hezbollah, as well as Palestinian groups such as the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. or the Quds Forces, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has carried out several attacks in northern Israel in recent weeks.

The fact that the journalists “were clearly visible from Israeli military positions” and the presence of at least one drone and one helicopter nearby in the hour leading up to the strikes “supports the analysis that the Israeli army knew or should have known that the Seven the individuals present were journalists, and yet they were still harassed not once, but twice,” Aya Majzoub, deputy regional director for the Middle East and Africa, told AFP Amnesty North Africa.

An AFP investigation was unable to establish which military unit was involved or from which level of command the order to fire came.

NGOs condemn ‘war crime’

Independent investigations by HRW and Amnesty International also point to the use of an Israeli-made 120mm tank round. “Israel’s deadly attacks on journalists must be investigated as war crimes,” Amnesty said in a statement presenting the investigation’s findings.

“Those responsible for the death of Issam Abdallah and the injuries of six other journalists must be brought to justice. No journalist should be harassed or killed simply for doing their job. Israel cannot be allowed to kill and attack reporters with impunity,” said Aya Majub, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, as quoted in the statement.

International humanitarian law “imposes an obligation throughout the conflict to attack only combatants and military objectives” and “attacks against civilians are prohibited in all circumstances,” Human Rights Watch said.

However, HWR’s investigation “entirely suggests that Israeli forces knew or should have known that the group they attacked consisted of journalists,” emphasizes Ramzi Qais, a Lebanese expert from HRW quoted in the press release.

According to the non-governmental organization, “Israel’s key allies – the US, UK, Canada and Germany – should suspend their military assistance and arms sales to Israel due to the risk that the latter will be used to commit serious abuses.”

According to the latest Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) figures released on December 6, at least 63 reporters and media workers (56 Palestinians, 4 Israelis and 3 Lebanese) have been killed since the war began on October 7. unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israel.