ロイター映像記者、レバノン・イスラエル国境で死亡　映像に砲弾発射の閃光

【ベイルートＡＦＰ＝時事】レバノン軍は１４日、イスラエル軍による前日の国境地帯への砲撃でロイター通信の映像ジャーナリストが死亡したほか、他の報道機関関係者６人が負傷したと述べた。（写真はＡＦＰの映像ジャーナリスト、ディラン・コリンズ氏が撮影した、イスラエル軍の砲撃に伴う閃光〈左奥〉。動画からの静止画。レバノン南部アルマアシャアブ近郊で）
　レバノン軍は声明で、「敵国イスラエルがロケット弾を発射し、報道陣の民間車両に当たった。これにより、イサム・アブダラ（ロイターのジャーナリスト）が死亡した」と発表した。別のロイターのジャーナリストのほか、ＡＦＰ通信、中東の衛星テレビ局アルジャジーラの関係者も負傷した。
　レバノン外務省は攻撃について「意図的な殺人」であり、「言論の自由とジャーナリズムに対する犯罪」だと非難した。
　これに対しイスラエル軍報道官は記者団に、「ジャーナリストが死亡したことは非常に遺憾だ」と述べ、誰が攻撃したかとの質問に対しては「調査中」と述べた。
　イスラエルとレバノンは事実上、戦争状態にあり、イスラエル側の国境地帯には同国軍部隊が展開している。
　今回、報道陣は防弾チョッキとヘルメットを着用し、イスラエルとの国境に近いアルマアシャアブ近郊にいた。
　負傷して入院中のＡＦＰの映像ジャーナリスト、ディラン・コリンズ氏によれば、報道陣は開けた場所で、イスラエル軍の砲撃を受けて前方の離れた丘から立ち上る煙を撮影していた。撮影陣の周囲では軍事行動は認められなかったという。
　コリンズ氏によると、そこにイスラエル側から発射されたロケット弾が立て続けに２発直撃。同氏が撮影した映像には、イスラエル軍が砲弾を発射した瞬間の閃光（せんこう）とみられる光が捉えられていた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/10/16-14:51）

Lebanon said on Saturday that Israel was behind cross-border fire that killed a Reuters journalist and wounded six others near the border.
Israel's military said it was looking into the circumstances of the fatal strike Friday, which also injured journalists from AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera.
We are very sorry for the journalist's death, military spokesman Richard Hecht told a briefing, in reference to the Reuters video journalist killed, Issam Abdallah.
On the question of who launched the strike, Hecht said: We are looking into it.
The Lebanese army said in a statement that the Israeli enemy fired a rocket shell that hit a civilian car belonging to a media team, leading to the death of Issam Abdallah.
The Lebanese foreign ministry labelled the strike a deliberate killing and a crime against freedom of speech and journalism.
AFP's chairman and CEO, Fabrice Fries, called on the relevant authorities to carry out an in-depth investigation.
It is crucial that every effort is made to ascertain how a group of journalists, clearly identified and duly accredited, could be targeted in this way, Fries said.
Reuters quoted Fatima Kanso, Abdallah's mother, as saying: Israel deliberately killed my son. They were all wearing journalists' gear and the word 'press' was visible. Israel cannot deny this crime.
The border has been rocked by violence since Palestinian Islamist group Hamas killed over 1,300 people in its October 7 attack on Israel, sparking retaliatory bombing of Gaza that has killed over 2,200 people there.
Israel has massed forces and tanks along the northern border with Lebanon, a country with which it remains technically at war, and where the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has a heavy presence.
The group of journalists, wearing protective vests and helmets, was near the village of Alma al-Shaab, close to the border with Israel, when they came under direct fire, according to two eyewitnesses.
- 'Two direct strikes' -
AFP photographer Christina Assi and AFP video journalist Dylan Collins were among the six journalists wounded.
Collins said there had been no outgoing fire from their location prior to the strike launched from the Israeli side of the border.
We were filming smoke billowing from Israeli artillery fire targeting a distant hill in front of us, he said.
There was no military activity in our direct vicinity and no artillery fire near us.
The journalists were standing in an open area when they heard small arms fire from a different direction further west, along the border with Israel, Collins said from hospital.
When we turned our cameras to look closer, we were hit directly by what seemed to be a rocket strike from the Israeli side, he added.
Shortly after, he said, we were hit again, directly, in the same place and from the same area. Two direct strikes on the same area.
Footage shot by Collins appears to show a flash of light coming from the Israeli position the instant before it impacts the journalists.
- Running for shelter -
Al Jazeera accused Israel of carrying out the strike, and Reuters said journalists were struck by missiles fired from the direction of Israel, citing one of its reporters at the scene.
Al-Jazeera reporter Carmen Joukhadar, also among those wounded, said that Israel directly targeted us.
Joukhadar and fellow reporters were filming footage on a hill in an open-air area, without any military sites near us, she said.
When the first strike hit the area, she ran to her car for shelter, she added.
Then I thought I shouldn't be close to the car, so I ran and the second strike hit the vehicle, she said.
Not long before the journalists were hit, the Israeli army had said that a short while ago, a blast occurred on the border fence in Hanita (Western Galilee), referring to a point just across the border from Alma al-Shaab.
It said that in response, IDF (army) forces are currently responding with artillery fire towards Lebanese territory.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which acts as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel, reported an Israeli strike on a position near the village of Alma al-Shaab, where the group of journalists were located.
Its peacekeepers also reported gunfire and explosions afterwards, UNIFIL said in a statement Saturday.
Based on what UNIFIL was able to observe, at this stage we cannot say with certainty how a group of journalists who were covering the events were hit, UNIFIL said.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed his deepest condolences to the family of Abdallah and other journalists killed in the line of duty.