{"id":1541091,"date":"2024-03-07T17:38:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T17:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/?p=1675402"},"modified":"2024-03-07T17:38:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T17:38:51","slug":"israel-likely-machine-gunned-down-and-killed-reuters-journalist-in-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/03\/07\/israel-likely-machine-gunned-down-and-killed-reuters-journalist-in-lebanon\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel \u2018likely\u2019 machine-gunned down and killed Reuters journalist in Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"
Israel<\/a> “likely” killed a Reuters<\/em> journalist by not only shelling him and his colleagues with tanks, but then machine-gunning them down, an investigation has concluded.<\/p>\n An Israeli tank crew who killed one journalist and wounded six others in Lebanon in October then “likely” opened fire on them with a machine gun, an expert report said Thursday.<\/p>\n Israel’s strike in southern Lebanon on 13 October instantly killed Issam Abdallah, a 37-year-old journalist for the Reuters<\/em> news agency.<\/p>\n It injured six others – two more Reuters<\/em> journalists, two from Al Jazeera<\/em>, and two from Agence France-Presse<\/em> (AFP<\/em>).<\/p>\n One of them, AFP<\/em> photographer Christina Assi, 28, had to have a leg amputated.<\/p>\n An AFP<\/em> investigation in December pointed to a tank shell only used by the Israeli army being used in the attack.<\/p>\n And a separate Reuters<\/em> probe, including initial findings from the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), found that two Israeli tank rounds fired from the same position across the border were used.<\/p>\n In its final report on Thursday, TNO said analysis of audio picked up by an Al Jazeera<\/em> video camera at the scene showed the reporters also came under fire from 0.50-calibre rounds of the type used by the Browning machine guns that can be mounted on Israel’s Merkava tanks. It noted:<\/p>\n It is considered a likely scenario that a Merkava tank, after firing two tank rounds, also used its machine gun against the location of the journalists.<\/p>\n The latter cannot be concluded with certainty as the direction and exact distance of (the machine gun) fire could not be established.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Israel’s army responded that the incident occurred in an “active combat zone” and was under review.<\/p>\n However, AFP global news director Phil Chetwynd renewed his call for a thorough investigation to be conducted by the Israeli military and made public. He said:<\/p>\n The TNO report that strongly suggests the journalists came under sustained machine gun fire adds more weight to the theory that this was a targeted and deliberate attack.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch concluded that the first strike was most likely a tank round fired from Israel.<\/p>\n They said the journalists had been clearly marked as such, and that the deadly strike merited a “war crimes” probe.<\/p>\n Additional reporting via Agence France-Presse<\/em><\/p>\n Featured image via Reuters – YouTube<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n By The Canary<\/a><\/p>\n\nIsrael killed Reuters<\/em> journalist with machine gun: “likely”<\/h2>\n
A war crimes probe is needed<\/h2>\n