Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel Sunday morning in response to Israeli attacks on Friday that killed a Reuters journalist and two elderly civilians, the Shiite militant group said in a statement.
Hezbollah said it struck the northern Israeli town of Shtula, killing one Israeli. Israeli medics said one man in his 40s was killed in the attack by the Iran-backed group and two others, also men in their 40s, were injured.
Hezbollah claimed it attacked “military positions” with precision-guided missiles.
The Israeli military said it has been striking Lebanese territories, and that there has been shooting from Lebanon towards an Israeli military position on the border.
Issam Abdallah, the Reuters videographer who was killed, was with a group of other journalists who were wearing clearly labeled press vests when an Israeli shelling hit their position near the Lebanese border town of Alma Chaab, according to video analyzed by CNN.
Journalists from international news organizations Al Jazeera, Agence France Presse, and Reuters were among the victims, according to statements from their outlets.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday it was looking into the incident.
In a report published Saturday, Reuters said two of its journalists who were wounded in the attack recounted the press grouping was filming incoming fire from the direction of Israel when a missile hit Abdallah as he was “sitting on a low stone near the rest of the group.”
Reuters has not yet determined if Israel was behind the attack, though it has said that the strike came from the direction of Israel. Some other outlets, including Al Jazeera and the Associated Press, have said the shells were Israeli.
Hezbollah’s next steps: It is still unclear whether Hezbollah will actively participate in the wider conflict. So far, it has adhered to its current rules of engagement and repeatedly stated that it will fire at Israel only when Lebanese territory, or its fighters, are fired on. It has broadly stuck to that, despite the spiraling tensions.
