KHIAM, Lebanon (AP) — Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah who was killed in Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon, was laid to rest in his hometown Saturday in a funeral procession attended by hundreds of people.
Draped in a Lebanese flag, Abdallah’s body was carried on a stretcher through the streets of his southern town of Khiam, from his family’s home to the local cemetery.
Dozens of journalists and Lebanese lawmakers attended the funeral.
Abdallah was killed Friday evening near the village of Alma al-Shaab in south Lebanon when an Israeli shell landed on a gathering of international journalists covering exchange of fire along the border between Israeli troops and members of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry asked Beirut’s mission to the United Nations to file a complaint against Israel over Friday’s shelling calling it a “flagrant violation and a crime against freedom of opinion and press.” The statement was carried by the state-run National News Agency.
Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told the Associated Press in Jerusalem Saturday: “We are aware of the incident with the Reuters journalist and we are looking into it.”
Hecht did not confirm that the journalists had been hit by Israeli shells, but called the incident “tragic,” adding, “we’re very sorry for his death.”
Reuters said in a statement that two of its journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, were wounded in the same shelling while Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV, said its cameraman Elie Brakhya and reporter Carmen Joukhadar, got wounded as well.
France’s international news agency, Agence France-Presse, said two of its journalists were also wounded: photographer Christina Assi, and video journalist Dylan Collins.
AFP reported Saturday that photographer Christina Assi was in need of blood donations at the American University Medical Center in Beirut where she was hospitalized.
The Lebanon-Israel border has been witnessing sporadic acts of violence since Saturday’s surprise attack by the militant Palestinian group Hamas on southern Israel.
Journalists from various countries have been flocking to Lebanon to monitor the situation as tensions have been escalating between Hezbollah and Israel.
