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Lebanese Reporter Dead After Clashes on Border

A Lebanese reporter was killed during fighting on the Israel-Lebanon border on Tuesday.

The reporter, Assaf Abu Rahal, worked for the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar. According to media reports and press freedom organizations, he was killed near the southern town of Al-Adaysseh.

Committee to Protect Journalists

Assaf Abu Rahal, a reporter for the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar/Committee to Protect Journalists

He was killed when a shell landed next to him.

Abu Rahal was 55 years old and covered southern Lebanon for Al-Akhbar for the last four years. He reported on the aftermath of the 2006 conflict between Israeli and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, according to his newspaper.

He was married with three children.

It was the first media casualty in the area since freelance photographer Layal Najib was killed in the war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

Four others–three Lebanese soldiers and an Israeli officer–were also killed in the fighting.

Aerial view of the Israel/Lebanon border/IDF

Aerial view of the Israel/Lebanon border/IDF

 

Author

Genevieve Belmaker

Genevieve Belmaker is a freelance journalist and contributing editor with The Epoch Times (www.theepochtimes.com). She also contributes to Quill, the magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists and Poynter.org. Her blog on journalism is http://artofreportage.com.

Genevieve has traveled throughout the U.S., Asia, Central America, Israel and the West Bank for reporting assignments, including major investigative reports on the recovery of New Orleans, the encroaching presence of China in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the dangerous import of melamine-contaminated milk into the U.S. and settlement outposts in the West Bank. She regularly reports on issues related to journalism, and the work of journalists.

She holds a BA from the University of Southern California in International Relations, and has been a member of several prominent national and international professional media organizations, including the Society of Professional Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the International Women’s Media Foundation, the New York Press Club, and the Newswomen’s Club of New York. She lives in Jerusalem, Israel with her husband and son.

Areas of Focus:
New Media; Journalism; Culture and Society