Targeted or Collateral: Israel Kills Three Journalists in Marked Press Car in Lebanon
An Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the southern Lebanese district of Jezzine on March 28 killed three journalists: Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shoeib, Al-Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni, and her brother Mohammed Ftouni, a video journalist. Israel said Shoeib was a Hezbollah intelligence operative. It provided no evidence. Hezbollah denied the allegations. The Lebanese president called it a "flagrant crime." CPJ has now documented four journalists killed in Lebanon since the Iran war began.
What Happened
On Saturday, March 28, 2026, an Israeli airstrike struck a vehicle in Jezzine, a district in southern Lebanon. Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shoeib and Al-Mayadeen TV reporter Fatima Ftouni were killed in the strike, their respective broadcasters confirmed. Lebanon's information minister later stated that Fatima Ftouni's brother, video journalist Mohammed Ftouni, had also been killed, Reuters reported. The three were traveling together in the same car at the time of the strike.
According to The Independent, Fatima Ftouni had been on air with a live report from southern Lebanon shortly before the strike. The Independent identified the location of the strike as the town of Jezzine in south Lebanon.
Al-Manar described Shoeib as "an icon of resistance reporting." Al-Mayadeen described Ftouni as "distinguished by her brave and objective coverage," per The Independent. Al-Manar reported that Shoeib had covered southern Lebanon for the network for nearly three decades, per The Independent.
Israel's Claim and What It Did Not Provide
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had "eliminated" Shoeib, whom it described as a "terrorist" operating in a Hezbollah intelligence unit. The military accused Shoeib of reporting on the locations of Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, of maintaining contact with Hezbollah militants, and of "inciting" against Israeli soldiers and civilians, per Reuters.
The Israeli military provided no evidence to support these allegations, Reuters explicitly stated. The Israeli military statement made no mention of the two other journalists — Fatima and Mohammed Ftouni — who died in the same strike. No explanation was provided for their deaths, per Reuters and The Independent.
Al-Manar TV did not respond to the Israeli allegations but described Shoeib as "distinguished by his professional and credible reporting of events," per The Independent.
The Israeli army's characterization of Shoeib as an intelligence operative mirrored past Israeli military allegations against Palestinian journalists targeted in the Gaza war — allegations that accused journalists of being Hamas militants posing as reporters. Those earlier allegations also were generally made without publicly released supporting evidence, per The Independent.
Lebanese and Hezbollah Responses
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the strike in a statement on X, calling it "a flagrant crime that violates all laws and agreements that protect journalists." He described the journalists as "civilians doing their professional duty," per Reuters.
Hezbollah denied the Israeli allegations in a statement: "The enemy's false claims are nothing but an expression of its weakness and fragility, and a desperate attempt to evade responsibility for this crime," Reuters reported.
Context: The Media Affiliations
Both broadcasters whose journalists were killed have documented affiliations with Hezbollah and Iran-aligned entities. Al-Manar TV is owned and controlled by Hezbollah, per Reuters. Al-Mayadeen is described by Reuters as "widely seen as editorially aligned with Iran's allies and supporters in the region."
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other press freedom organizations do not restrict their protections to journalists from politically neutral outlets. International humanitarian law protects journalists as civilians in conflict zones regardless of the editorial stance or ownership of their employers. Israel has disputed the application of those protections when it has claimed a journalist was simultaneously a combatant or intelligence operative, as it did in this case.
Whether Shoeib was a protected journalist, a legitimate military target, or both — a categorization that does not exist under the Geneva Conventions' binary distinction between combatants and civilians — has not been adjudicated. No independent investigation had been announced as of March 28.
The Prior Strike on Journalists: October 2024 Hasbaya
Saturday's deaths followed a documented pattern. In October 2024, an Israeli strike hit a collection of guesthouses in the southern Lebanese town of Hasbaya that housed only reporters, killing two journalists from Al-Mayadeen and one from Al-Manar, per Reuters. That strike prompted widespread international condemnation at the time.
Earlier this week, on approximately March 25, an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's central district killed Mohammed Sherri, the head of political programs at Al-Manar TV, along with his wife, per The Independent. Freelance photojournalist Hussein Hammoud, who worked for Al-Manar and the media office of the Jabal Amel region, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern city of Nabatieh on March 25, per CPJ.
CPJ's Running Count
As of its most recently updated tracker (published before Saturday's deaths), the Committee to Protect Journalists documented the following press freedom violations since the Iran war began on February 28, 2026:
- 4 journalists killed (this figure does not yet include the three killed on March 28)
- 8 journalists assaulted, threatened, or harassed
- 8 media outlets damaged in airstrikes
- 9 journalists detained or questioned
- 11 journalists obstructed while reporting
- Censorship measures in multiple countries, including a nationwide internet blackout in Iran
The three deaths on March 28 bring the total number of journalists and media workers killed in Lebanon since the Israel-Hezbollah war resumed (March 2, 2026) to five, per The Independent. The CPJ tracker will require updating to reflect Saturday's strike.
For broader context: CPJ's February 2026 annual report, covered by the Washington Post, found that journalists were slain at record levels in 2025, with the majority killed by Israel during its military campaigns.
What Is Not Confirmed
The exact targeting sequence — whether the vehicle was positively identified as a press vehicle before the strike or after — has not been disclosed by the Israeli military. Whether any of the three journalists were carrying press identification or equipment visible from the air has not been publicly established. The Israeli military has not explained why Fatima and Mohammed Ftouni, against whom no allegations were made, were in the targeted vehicle. No independent investigation has been announced.