“In Lebanon, news professionals fulfil a crucial mission by reporting on the ongoing war in the region, which is now impacting the country. Restricting journalists’ access on the ground is tantamount to turning off the lights, facilitating war crimes and allowing an Israeli invasion of Lebanon to unfold in complete darkness. In 2024 alone, seven reporters were killed by the Israeli army in the context of the war in Gaza. This must not happen again. Journalists are not weapons of war — they must be able to work in complete freedom and safety.

On 9 March, Haitham al-Mousawi nearly found himself on the list of journalists killed while working. The correspondent for the daily newspaper Al Akhbar had entered a building recently hit by an Israeli air strike in the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut, to cover the damage, when the building was hit a second time in another Israeli air strike. After being hit by shrapnel, the photojournalist had to be hospitalised. This occurred a week after the intensification of Israeli bombardments in the country. Since then, several journalists have narrowly escaped these “double strikes” — a practice that involves targeting a location that has already been hit once and which has already claimed the lives of journalists in the Gaza Strip.

A few days later, Mazen Ibrahim, the bureau chief for the Qatari news channel Al Jazeera, and his colleague Aly al-Ahmar, a correspondent in southern Lebanon for the pro-Iranian Lebanese channel Al Mayadeen regularly targeted by Israeli forces — were caught in a second shelling of the Qassimiye Bridge in southern Lebanon while reporting.

“The risk is that there will be strikes without warning,” fears Edmond Sassine, correspondent for the Qatari channel Al Araby, who has been based in the south of the country since the beginning of the war. “One day, I went to cover a strike and 40 minutes later, there was another one, right next to us, without any warning.” The reporter also highlighted the increasing risk of travelling by car. “We take public roads, we don’t go through small neighbourhoods, but the strikes can hit a nearby car or building. It’s really dangerous.” For Elissar Kobeissi, RSF Correspondent in Lebanon, the aim could not be clearer: “The strikes are intended to take place right next to journalists to prevent them from getting closer.”

As the war spreads, journalists fear the worst: “The Israeli forces’ policy of evacuating the south is far more indiscriminate than it was in 2024,” says freelance journalist Arthur Sarradin, Lebanon correspondent for the French daily Libération, the public broadcaster Radio France, and the French news channel LCI. “You do wonder to what extent journalists will be spared this time.” This fear is far from unfounded. In 2023 and 2024, seven journalists were killed in Lebanon by Israeli forces while carrying out their work.

Access restrictions imposed by Hezbollah

Journalists are also concerned about the formal restrictions they face in securing access to the field.. To travel to southern Lebanon, journalists must obtain permits from both the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army. Hezbollah, a political and paramilitary group, also imposes its own permits for access to the areas it controls in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of the capital. Recently, the group banned all access: “Following repeated incidents involving people filming in the southern suburbs, which led to further enemy strikes on buildings [...] all filming in the area is strictly prohibited,” announced Hezbollah in an official statement. Journalists in these areas had reported being prevented from filming and forced to lower their cameras. “These requests also come from civilians,” explained one journalist, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s difficult to know whether these are official instructions or simply acts of intimidation on an individual basis.”

Rising tensions and illegal measures

There is a growing sense of mistrust towards journalists amid the polarising context of war. As Hezbollah accuses journalists of passing information to Israeli forces, certain municipalities in the south that are not affiliated with the group — namely Marjayoun, Qlayaa, and Rachaya el-Foukhar — have illegally banned journalists from entering the area. “Hezbollah accuses journalists of giving information to the Israeli army, and people think we’re giving information to Hezbollah,” summarises Arthur Sarradin. “This suggests a level of complicity between the press and armed groups, as if our reporting were a weapon of war, propaganda, rather than a means of providing news.” Elsewhere, the situation is relatively normal: “I haven’t had any problems in Tyre,” says Edmond Sassine, from the city in southern Lebanon. Being a well-known television correspondent, he is easily recognisable. “People are welcoming, they trust us and I have my contacts. My colleagues in other regions, however, have encountered difficulties.”