Lebanon: Journalist injured in Israeli drone attack while reporting in southern Lebanon

On 15 June, Lebanese journalist Hadi Hoteit was injured when he was directly hit by an Israeli drone while reporting on the aftermath of Israeli attacks in the town of Kafr Tebnit, in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Union of Journalists in Lebanon (UJL), in condemning this attack and reiterates that deliberate attacks on civilians, including journalists, constitute war crimes.

People make their way through the heavily damaged historic market of Nabatieh as residents displaced by fighting return to southern Lebanon on 15 June 2026. Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat / AFP

Hadi Hoteit, a Lebanese journalist and a correspondent for Iranian state-owned media Press TV, was injured by shrapnel from an Israeli drone while filming the aftermath of an Israeli attack on the town of Kafr Tebnit in southern Lebanon. The journalist was taken to the hospital, where he recorded a video stating that the attack had been deliberate and that the drone had targeted him directly.

At the time of the attack, the journalist was wearing a press vest and a helmet.

The IFJ-affiliated Union of Journalists in Lebanon (UJL) strongly condemned the direct targeting of the journalist by Israel. "[...] This strike comes at a time of greatest need for journalistic documentation of Israeli crimes in South Lebanon. The Union considers the attack to be part of an ongoing Israeli policy of targeting journalists who bear witness to its crimes."

The UJL called on the Lebanese government to take action to document Israeli crimes and to open judicial investigations into them.

IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, added: "We have consistently condemnedthe repeated threats and attacks by the Israeli army against journalists in Lebanon and Palestine, which are aimed at silencing their reporting. We stand in solidarity with our colleague, Hadi Hoteit, and wish him a swift and full recovery. The IFJ will continue to pursue justice and accountability to ensure that attacks on journalists do not go unpunished."

• The IFJ has issued safety advisories in English and French for journalists covering the war in Lebanon.

On 16 June, the IFJ, in collaboration with the UJL and its Palestinian affiliate, the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate (PJS), will organise a side event as part of the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to discuss the urgent need to protect journalists and to secure accountability for journalists killed by Israel in Palestine and Lebanon.