British journalist Steve Sweeney and his cameraman are wounded in Israeli missile attack in southern Lebanon as he reports live on air
- Do you have a story? Email Freya.barnes@dailymail.co.uk
British journalist Steve Sweeney and his cameraman Ali Rida were injured in an Israeli missile attack in Southern Lebanon while reporting live on air.
The Beirut-based English-language Russia Today correspondent was wearing a press vest while covering Hezbollah rocket attacks in Nahariya, Israel, today.
But the sound of an approaching missile froze him for a moment, and he ducked and dodged it just in time before it exploded behind them.
The force of the explosion threw Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Rida to the ground, the pair groaning in pain as they suffered minor injuries from shrapnel.
Another man can be heard shouting something in the distance and Mr Sweeney panics and responds frantically: ‘Where is he? Where? Where?’
Both men were conscious but were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
It was reported that they were in front of the Al Qassimiya bridge near a local military facility in southern Lebanon when an Israeli plane launched the missile towards the location where they were filming.
Mr Sweeney and Mr Rida claimed the strike was deliberate and an ‘attempt to silence’ them, insisting that in broad daylight they wore uniforms bearing press insignia and were clearly identifiable as media.
British journalist Steve Sweeney and his cameraman Ali Rida were injured in an Israeli missile attack in Southern Lebanon while reporting live on air.
The force of the explosion threw Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Rida to the ground, the pair groaning in pain as they suffered minor injuries from shrapnel.
They were reportedly in front of the Al Qassimiya bridge near a local military installation in southern Lebanon when an Israeli plane launched the missile towards the spot where they were filming.
Targeting clearly identified members of the press is a war crime under international humanitarian law, but it is not yet known whether the attack was intentional or not.
The attack came hours after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned they would strike bridges over the Litani River to eliminate ‘Hezbollah movements under civilian cover’.
It is unclear whether the Al Qassimiya bridge was one of the bridges they planned to attack.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least four people in southern Lebanon today; Dozens of people have been reported dead in the war-torn country in the last two days.
