IFJ Issues New Warnings Over Safety After Lebanese Photographer Dies in Bomb Blast

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today renewed its call to combatants on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese conflict to protect journalists after a Lebanese photographer was killed when an Israeli missile exploded near her taxi.

“The tragic death of this young journalist illustrates once again the priority that must be given to protecting media staff covering armed conflicts,” said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. “This conflict is daily becoming more dangerous for media staff. Again we appeal to all sides to recognise that journalists are non-combatants who must be allowed to do their jobs safely without fear of being targeted.”

Layal Nejib, aged 23, was killed on Sunday in southern Lebanon after a missile explosion. She worked for Al-Jaras magazine as well as other media outlets. She is the second media staffer to be killed in the region since tensions reignited.

Israeli air raids on Saturday hit transmission stations used by several Lebanese television channels and killed media worker Suleiman Chidiac, a technician working for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC). Two others were wounded in the strikes when relay stations for Future TV, Hezbollah-run Al-Manar television and LBC, the nation's leading private network, were attacked by Israeli bombs.

Last week, Israeli forces fired on a news crew of TV satellite channel Al Jazeera and injured technician Wael Tantous.

“We are calling on both the Israelis and Hezbollah to respect the rights of journalists to cover this story and to make sure that no other media staff will lose their lives for reporting on the conflict,” White said. “The Israeli government must make a full investigation into recent attacks on journalists, to ensure that this does not happen again and that anyone targeting journalists is held accountable.”


For further information please contact +32 2 235 22 00

The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries