00:00Smoke rose over Beirut this Friday morning after a pre-dawn strike,
00:04with Lebanon's health ministry later reporting that two people were killed.
00:08Israel has been waging war against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah across Lebanon
00:13since 2 March when the group launched rockets into Israel in response to the killing of Iran's supreme leader.
00:19Over 1,000 people have been killed and around 1 million internally displaced so far.
00:27Now, the Committee to Protect Journalists is calling for an impartial investigation
00:31into the killing of Hussein Hamoud, a freelance journalist
00:34who worked for the Hezbollah-affiliated broadcaster Al-Manar TV.
00:38He was killed in an Israeli strike on the southern city of Nabatye on Wednesday.
00:44Well, for more on the situation in Lebanon, for journalists specifically,
00:47we can bring in Eman Mahana, executive director of the Samir Qasir Foundation.
00:53Thank you very much for speaking to us here on France 24 today.
00:56Would you please start by telling us what exactly it is that your foundation seeks to do?
01:03Our foundation is a press freedom organisation.
01:06We monitor all types of violations targeting journalists, media professionals,
01:10and also culture professionals.
01:12We provide direct assistance, emergency support, crisis response, safety training to journalists,
01:18and we try to support independent media voices that are trying to promote accountability-oriented journalism
01:24in a region where media is very often captured by political and business interests.
01:31Now, a Lebanese journalist was killed on Wednesday during Israeli airstrikes.
01:36What more can you tell us about the conditions that journalists are working under in Lebanon today?
01:43The situation for journalists in Lebanon is paradoxical.
01:47On the one hand, it is one of the countries in the region where the level of press freedom is
01:52relatively higher,
01:53where diversity of opinions, especially towards such a divisive issue, such as the current war,
01:58is present in the media landscape in general.
02:02At the same time, safety preparedness for journalists is extremely low.
02:06Extremely low in a context where Israeli targeting of journalists has been documented in Gaza and in Lebanon.
02:12During the last episode of the war in 2024, 12 Lebanese journalists lost their lives.
02:18In the recent war, two have already been killed.
02:21Others have been targeted very often by indiscriminate attacks on residential areas where journalists are present.
02:28And there were instances where people were clearly identified as journalists
02:32and were targeted by the Israeli army.
02:35This is something really dangerous that requires the investigations that CPJ, Human Rights Watch,
02:41and others have been calling for.
02:42There are several measures that the Lebanese government could have taken through the ICC
02:48that Lebanon refused to take, paradoxically, again, under pressure from Hezbollah.
02:53During the last war, in the last episode, in October 2023, a Lebanese journalist was killed.
03:01The Lebanese government wanted to go to the ICC and backpedaled months later because Hezbollah as well
03:07did not want the ICC to be involved because they might look at crimes they have committed as well
03:12against journalists and war crimes in general.
03:15So this is why having a country stuck between an army such as the Israeli army
03:21that never actually cares about protecting journalists and internal parties
03:26that have also equally been responsible for the assassination of journalists throughout the years
03:31is a situation that makes impunity the rule.
03:35And this reduces significantly protection of journalists covering conflict.
03:39Now, you say the Lebanese government has come under significant pressure from Hezbollah
03:42not to take these cases to the ICC, for example.
03:45Could that be something that might be about to change?
03:49We have heard a generally tougher stance towards Hezbollah from the current Lebanese government.
03:57We hope so.
03:58What we absolutely need is accountability to be the rule, is impunity to end.
04:04This is why the Lebanese government has to take its positions based on the national interests of Lebanon,
04:11the national interests of a country whose constitution upholds the values of freedom of the press in a very clear
04:18way.
04:18So it's not because we want to accommodate the Americans and the Israelis that we turn a blind eye
04:23to the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli army.
04:25And it's not because we care about preserving some kind of false national unity
04:31that we turn a blind eye to the long list of crimes that Hezbollah has committed against journalists.
04:37What we need is not a policy of alignment with foreign interests.
04:41And this policy of alignment with foreign interests is exactly the reason why the Lebanese government is so weak today
04:48and Lebanon is in a state of total destruction.
04:51What we need is a new type of policy that puts Lebanese interests first, the rule of law first.
04:56It might sound almost naive and optimistic and almost as a utopian point of view in these times.
05:04But honestly, this is exactly what is left for us.
05:07Because if we only base our policies on alignment with tactical short-term positions based on who's strongest now,
05:15we maintain a situation of real fragility that doesn't allow the state of Lebanon to become a credible actor,
05:22neither for its citizens nor for its international partners.
05:25Now, Russia has recalled the Israeli ambassador after Israeli strikes in Lebanon,
05:32almost killed its reporters for state Russian TV.
05:35Does that external pressure, in your opinion, mean anything to Israel?
05:39Are they listening?
05:42If past behavior is an indicator of future behavior, unfortunately not.
05:47But I, as a Lebanese citizen, leading a Lebanese organization, have one constituency,
05:54the Lebanese people and my government, pushing them to do the right thing,
05:58pushing them to enhance the access to protective equipment for journalists.
06:04My organization has submitted a request for the Lebanese government to import dozens of helmets,
06:10of vests that we will be distributing for free to journalists and basically lending for journalists covering the conflict.
06:16It's the responsibility also of media leaders, media owners of newsrooms to equip their journalists with the safety they need,
06:24with the hostile environment training they need and with the equipment they need.
06:27And it's also the responsibility of our government to seek every judicial avenue in order to hold the perpetrators of
06:34crimes against journalists accountable.
06:36Political pressure is needed, but at the same time, we cannot wait for it to materialize to then help journalists.
06:43Our emergency is now.
06:45The need to equip journalists with the safety equipment, with the safety training is now.
06:50And only political posturing will not help journalists.
06:53And we have time for just one more question, I'm afraid.
06:57We know that over a million people have been displaced in this latest eruption of the conflict.
07:04Could you give us an idea of how the country and its people are coping with this mass and sudden
07:10internal displacement?
07:13It's not that sudden, unfortunately.
07:16Lebanon has been warned for years and for months recently that the war might resume in a very violent way
07:22if Hezbollah interferes again by sending rockets onto Israel and Hezbollah did just that.
07:31So the issue here is that we knew it will happen.
07:36Preparedness was low from all sides.
07:39But at the same time, solidarity in Lebanon is always something that is heartwarming to see the level of popular
07:46solidarity
07:46that is always present to provide support for the displaced.
07:51The Lebanese government, while failing at asserting its sovereignty,
07:54has not failed in trying to organize aid and assistance to IDPs in the most professional way,
08:02given the limited resources they have.
08:03However, what is really dangerous is the political discourse that is not trying to seek,
08:09neither from Hezbollah's side nor from its opponents, any kind of unity.
08:13We're back to a language of hostility, of accusing the other of treason.
08:21And this is, you know, trickling down to the popular reaction and with levels of hate online,
08:27with levels of harassment, of hate speech, basically, on sectarian levels, that is also growing.
08:33So this level of hate speech has become so dangerous that it might endanger the solidarity
08:38that initially was positive, that we saw during the first weeks and first days of the war.
08:43And if the situation continues without a sound political settlement that preserves Lebanon's sovereignty long term,
08:50I'm afraid that civil strife and civil, you know, divisions will become more dangerous
08:55for the Lebanese social fabric than the war itself.
08:58Eman Mahan, Executive Director of the Samir Kassir Foundation.
09:02Thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us at Around the World today.
Comments