‘Israel tried to kill me’: British journalist says ‘deliberate’ missile strike was meant to ‘silence’ him, incident caught on Russian TV broadcast

Russia has accused Israel of deliberately ‘targeting’ its journalists after a near-fatal missile strike in southern Lebanon. The deadly projectile struck metres away from RT reporter Steve Sweeney as he covered Israeli attacks in the area — with both the scribe and his cameraman suffering shrapnel wounds. Israeli strikes have killed at least three journalists since the Iran war broke out three weeks ago.

“The crew’s clothing clearly read ‘press,’ and they were carrying only cameras and microphones… All these circumstances indicate that the attack on the journalists was deliberate and targeted,” news agency AFP quoted Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying in a statement.

Meanwhile the Israeli military has said that the TV crew was operating in an area where an evacuation warning had been issued. Tel Aviv began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon last week — asking civilians to vacate areas south of the Litani River and occupying multiple positions within the neighbouring country. Israel insisted that it “has never and will never deliberately target journalists.”

Missile strikes as TV crew reports from Lebanon

A missile struck mere metres away from the Russia Today reporter and his camera operator as they covered Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon on Thursday. Both were taken for treatment after suffering shrapnel injuries.

“Today Israel tried to kill me in a targeted airstrike in southern Lebanon as I was reporting on was the targeting of bridges and the forced displacement of one million people — an ethnic cleansing operation on a larger scale than the Nakba. I have absolutely no doubt that this was deliberate. Despite claims there were no warnings ahead of the strike and no notifications sent to the Lebanese Army who allowed us to film,” reporter Steve Sweeney later wrote on X.

“They targeted us deliberately at Qasmiyeh Bridge while we were wearing official [press] uniform,” an injured Ali Rida told RT from southern Lebanon.

Sweeney also drew a parallel with the Gaza war — accusing ‘western powers’ of providing political and military support to Israel. More than 200 Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli strikes during the recent Gaza war.

“They are not simply complicit, but active participants and should be held accountable for their actions. But if Israel thinks today’s strike will silence us and keep us out of the field they are very, very mistaken,” Sweeney insisted.