An Israeli airstrike wounded two Lebanese journalists on Wednesday while they were working near the border with Israel, their employer reported.
The Lebanese daily newspaper Al-Akhbar said “our colleagues Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj were wounded as a result of the Israeli strike that targeted the town of al-Tiri” in southern Lebanon.
The health ministry separately said Israeli strikes in al-Tiri had killed two people, wounded Faraj and left Khalil trapped.
It added that Faraj was transported to hospital and that ambulance teams were trying to reach Khalil.
A Lebanese Red Cross official had earlier told AFP they “managed to rescue Zeinab Faraj, but we have not yet reached Amal Khalil… and we withdrew immediately because of a warning strike”.
Ambulance teams escorted by the Lebanese army and accompanied by a bulldozer to remove the rubble had entered Tiri to search for Khalil, according to journalists in southern Lebanon and local media outlets.
They reported that rescuers were able to enter the town after several hours and contact with the 2024 ceasefire mechanism and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Amal Khalil is a veteran correspondent for Al-Akhbar, and has produced consistent field reports from south Lebanon in the war that began on March 2 and an earlier conflict between 2023 and 2024.
Faraj is a freelance photographer who has frequently worked with Khalil.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he was following up “on the circumstances surrounding the detention of journalists Zeinab Faraj and Amal Khalil in the town of Tayr Harfa as a result of the Israeli forces’ shelling of the town”, according to a statement from the presidency.
Aoun called “for refraining from targeting media professionals while they carry out their journalistic duties”.
The Israeli army said in a statement it had “identified two vehicles in southern Lebanon that had departed from a military structure used by Hezbollah”.
“After identifying the individuals as violating the ceasefire understandings and posing an imminent threat, the Israeli Air Force struck one of the vehicles. Subsequently, the structure from which the individuals had fled was also struck,” the army added.
“Reports were received that two journalists were injured as a result of the strikes. The IDF is not preventing rescue teams from reaching the area.”
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