The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday claimed that a journalist killed in an airstrike in southern Lebanon was a member of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force.
The slain journalist was identified as Ali Shoeib. He was travelling in a car along with another reporter, Fatima Ftouni, and her brother, video journalist Mohammed Ftouni, in the southern Lebanon town of Jezzine when the airstrike occurred.
Who was Ali Shoeib?
Ali Shoeib was a journalist working for Al Manar TV channel owned by Hezbollah. However, the IDF alleged that he was also an operative of the Radwan Force's intelligence unit.
IDF referred to Shoeib as a "terrorist" under the guise of a journalist. It alleged that he exposed locations of IDF troops along Lebanese border and in southern parts of the country.
IDF claimed that Shoeib "maintained continuous contact with other terrorists in the Radwan Force unit in particular, and within the terror organization in general." Some of the top Hezbollah commanders with whom Shoeib was allegedly in touch with included Ali Karaki, Mohammad Afif and Muhammad Nimah Nasser. Ali Karaki was the Hezbollah's Southern Front commander who was killed alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in September 2024. Hezbollah media relations chief Mohammad Afif was killed in November 2024 while Muhammad Nimah Nasser, the group's commander in Aziz division, was killed in July 2024.
The Israeli military also alleged that the slain journalist was engaged in "incitement against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, using his position at the channel to disseminate Hezbollah propaganda materials."
Reporter Fatima Ftouni and her brother and video journalist Mohammed Ftouni were working for Al Mayadeen channel, which is also affiliated to Hezbollah. Israel is yet to comment on the killings of Ftouni and her brother.
