Lebanese bid farewell to three journalists assassinated in Israeli strike

Ahram Online , Sunday 29 Mar 2026

Lebanese mourners laid to rest on Sunday three journalists killed by a targeted Israeli strike on their vehicle in the south the previous day.

Three Journalists

 

Ali Shoeib, a veteran correspondent for Hezbollah's Al Manar TV, Fatiman Ftouni of the Al Mayadeen channel, and her brother, cameraman Mohammad Ftouni, were all killed when their vehicle was hit in Jezzine in southern Lebanon.

Later on Saturday, the Israeli occupation army confirmed the strike on the three journalists, claiming they were "terrorists."

Since 2 March, Israeli airstrikes on Beirut and the rest of Lebanon and a ground invasion in the south have killed 1,189 people and wounded nearly 3,000.

Many Hezbollah flags were in evidence at the funeral in a temporary cemetery in Beirut's southern suburbs, where the group holds sway.

AFP correspondents said hundreds of people attended the funeral, and the bodies of Shoeib and Fatima Ftouni were draped in their channels' logos and with bouquets.

"Fatima and Ali were heroes," a relative of Ftouni's who gave only his first name as Qassem told AFP.

"We will continue on this path, on this journey, even if we all become martyrs."

Ali Hashem, who had been close to Shoeib, said "losing them is very difficult", but "we will not be broken".

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun condemned the killings as "a blatant crime".

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told public broadcaster France 3 on Sunday that journalists working in war zones "must never be targeted, including when they "have links with parties to the conflict."

"If it is indeed confirmed that the journalists in question were deliberately targeted by the Israeli army, then this is extremely serious and a blatant violation of international law," Barrot said.

Israel has killed more than 230 Palestinian journalists and at least 11 Lebanese journalists since the start of its genocidal war on Gaza on 7 October 2023.

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