M077-EL LIBANO EXPLOSION PERIODISTA

Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Chbib was preparing to go on air on Sunday (September 6), when a reported Israeli strike hit near him, footage shared by the Hezbollah-affiliated TV channel showed.

Chbib ducked as the blast sounded with fire and flying debris filled the screen before the feed cut out.

Chbib and cameraman Mohammad Berjawi were wounded in the strike, Al-Manar said. Lebanon’s health ministry also said two journalists were wounded in Sunday’s Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to Reuters’ question on the strike that wounded the journalists.

In a statement on its telegram channel, the Israeli military said it had carried out strikes in the Nabatieh area and killed several Hezbollah fighters following the launch of Hezbollah’s explosive drones on Sunday.

The Lebanese health ministry said that a total of 11 people, including two women, were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Sunday. Nine of the 11 were killed in separate strikes on Nabatieh al-Fawqa, according to the ministry’s statement.

The Israeli military said its targets included what it described as Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and a command centre inside a building previously used as a hospital. It also said it used precision munitions and aerial surveillance to mitigate civilian harm.

Fears of a renewed Israeli military campaign are mounting in Lebanon after days of escalating strikes despite a June ceasefire that was meant to halt fighting between the Israeli military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

The ceasefire saw violence decrease dramatically, but Israeli troops occupying swathes of southern Lebanon have continued razing villages in the self-declared security zone. Israel's military has continued carrying out strikes both within the zone and to its north, mostly without evacuation warnings.