Journalists killed in southern Lebanon: What the images show us about Israeli involvement

The list of journalists killed on the border between Israel and Lebanon since October 7 just got longer. Two journalists from Al Mayadeen, a conservative Lebanese channel with close links to the group Hezbollah, were killed alongside two civilians on the morning of November 21.

The two journalists Farah Omar and Rabih Me’mari were killed by a missile strike while covering tensions in southern Lebanon between the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah.

Journalists killed a few minutes after a live broadcast

The strike, which occurred late in the morning, took place between the villages of Tayr Harfa and Jebbayn. The location was verified by GeoConfirmed, a group specialised in geolocation, by analysing images posted online before and after the strike.

At 9:50am, Al Mayadeen posted the last live broadcast by journalist Farah Omar on X (formerly Twitter). She was reporting from the site of the strike. Omar, who was wearing a vest that said “Press”, was being filmed by cameraman Rabih Me’mari.

Shortly before 11am, a photo of two bodies taken on the strike site started to circulate on Telegram. Omar’s body is seen wearing the blue and white striped shirt she wore in her last broadcast.

While it seems as if the journalists were not wearing their vests identifying them as press at the moment of the attack, their camera and tripod – on fire after the attack – were clearly set up in the open space they were shooting.

Images shared by Iranian news channel SSN on its Telegram channel show two bodies being taken away from the site in an ambulance. The camera is still smoking. 

‘An area with active hostilities, where exchange of fire occur,’ said the IDF

The director of Al Mayadeen, Ghassan Ben Jeddou, accused Israel of “intentionally targeting” the two journalists.

“I tell you that you will not suppress the voice of this channel and you need to know that we will continue, no matter how many you kill or try to kill,” he said on Al Mayadeen, adding that one civilian killed alongside the journalists was a “contributor” to the channel, without further precision.

More news agencies, like Reuters and AFP also reported that Israeli strikes had killed the journalists. As did Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who “firmly condemned the Israeli attack”.

This incident came after the Israeli government’s decision on November 13 to block Al Mayadeen’s websites and programming. The authorities accused the channel of being a “mouthpiece of Hezbollah” and of “wartime efforts to harm [Israel’s] security interests and to serve the enemy’s goals”.

The IDF told the FRANCE 24 Observers team that it was “aware” of accusations that Israel had fired on the two journalists. It said the Israeli military had carried out an operation on November 21 against “a threat from a launch zone of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, in the Jebbayn region”.

“This is an area with active hostilities, where exchanges of fire occur. Presence in the area is dangerous,” the IDF said, adding that “the incident is under investigation”.

An Israeli anti-tank missile, according to a military expert

How can we prove the origin of the attack? The FRANCE 24 Observers team analysed several video sequences broadcast by media in the region.

In the hours following the attack, a reporter from the Al Mayadeen channel also went live at the scene to show the various impacts of the strike. A crater about fifteen centimetres deep and a few centimetres wide was visible, while the tree next to the journalists and the house with the red wall were hit by numerous pieces of shrapnel.

Based on these visual elements, military expert Marc Garlasco concluded that the weapon used was a Spike NLOS anti-tank missile, which is only used by the IDF in this region. He explained his reasoning on X on November 21.

Garlasco, who works with the PAX Protection of Civilians organisation, has been documenting the use of this weapon for several years. A report he wrote for Human Rights Watch in 2009 outlines the use of the weapon in the Gaza Strip. He explained that the crater visible in this video, 15 cm in diameter, has the “visual signature” of a Spike missile.

We contacted Garlasco, who told us, “What we see is completely consistent with the very unique visual signature of the Spike. No other weapon I’ve studied has this visual signature.”

The various impacts visible on the tree and wall are also characteristic, in his eyes, of this type of missile, which ejects multiple cubic fragments on impact.

Marc Garlasco points out that this type of highly accurate missile is often used to target individuals: “It’s very clear that they hit what they’re targeting”, he says, pointing out that these missiles have a radius of inaccuracy of around one metre.

Amaël Kotlarski, manager of the armament team at defence intelligence firm Janes and a specialist in anti-tank missiles, confirmed to FRANCE 24 that the crater was caused by an anti-tank missile, adding that, however: “It is difficult to determine its origin and exact nature because there is no visible debris.”

The Al Mayadeen journalist on the scene claimed during the livestream that a drone was behind the attack. The experts we spoke to also found this hypothesis plausible. An Apache helicopter could also have been responsible for the strike, Garlasco said, as the Israeli military has shared several images of Apaches equipped with Spike NLOS missiles.

A conflict zone since October 7 

Since October 7 and the resurgence of tensions on the Lebanese-Israeli border, Israeli forces have carried out numerous air raids in southern Lebanon. Several strikes have hit the area where the two journalists were filming.

The IDF often shares videos of the strikes filmed from the air. It claims that it is targeting Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.

However, on October 13, two Israeli strikes targeted a group of seven journalists from the international media, clearly identified by their helmets and “Press” vests, according to a Reporters Without Borders video investigation published on October 29.

The missiles, fired from an Apache helicopter according to several witnesses at the scene, killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah instantly and wounded six other reporters. The group was located a few kilometres from the area where the Al Mayadeen journalists were working.

On October 14, IDF spokesman Richard Hecht said the IDF was “very sorry” for the death of the journalist in cross-border shelling, adding that the incident was under investigation.

In November, an Al Jazeera photographer was also wounded by Israeli fire while covering bombardments in southern Lebanon alongside other journalists.

According to a list compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 53 journalists and media professionals have been killed since the start of the conflict on October 7, as of November 23.

In Lebanon, cross-border violence has claimed at least 92 lives. Most have been Hezbollah fighters but 14 civilians have also been killed, according to an AFP count. On the Israeli side, nine people have been killed, including six soldiers, according to the Israeli authorities.