Israeli forces have killed three Lebanese journalists in southern Lebanon in an air strike that Israel's military says had targeted one of them.
Lebanese television news channel al-Manar said its reporter Ali Shaib and reporter Fatima Ftouni, from Lebanese pan-Arab broadcaster al-Mayadeen, were killed when their vehicle was hit.
Lebanon's information minister later said Ftouni's brother, cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, had also been killed in the strike.
Israel's military said in a statement it had killed Shaib, whom it called a "terrorist," in a targeted strike, accusing him of being part of a Hezbollah intelligence unit, and said he had reported on locations of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon.
The statement, which also accused Shaib of "incitement" against Israeli soldiers and civilians, did not mention the other journalists or provide evidence to support its assertion that Shaib was a member of a Hezbollah intelligence unit.
Hezbollah, which controls al-Manar, denied Shaib was part of one of its intelligence units.
"The enemy's false claims are nothing but an expression of its weakness and fragility, and a desperate attempt to evade responsibility for this crime," it said in a statement.
Al-Mayadeen is widely seen as editorially aligned with Iran's allies and supporters in the region.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun described them in a statement on X as "civilians doing their professional duty".
"It is a brazen crime that violates all treaties and norms through which journalists enjoy international protection in war," he said.
Al-Manar described Shaib as an "icon of resistance reporting".
Shaib was widely known as one of al-Manar's war correspondents, known for his close-up coverage from frontline areas along the Lebanon-Israel border.
Al-Mayadeen said Ftouni had been distinguished by her brave and objective coverage.
Fatouni was also known for her reporting from war-ravaged southern Lebanon.
"The problem of the enemy is that they want to kill the narrative," al-Mayadeen's director in Beirut said.
"The word can never be shot."
The killings followed the death of Hussain Hamood, a Lebanese freelance journalist working for al-Manar who the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on X was killed in an Israeli air strike on Wednesday.
At least three other reporters across the Middle East have been killed in air strikes since the Iran war began late last month, the CPJ said on Thursday.
The US military did not respond to a request for comment.
with DPA