BEIRUT - Lebanon said an Israeli strike on a residence housing media workers killed two journalists and a broadcast engineer on Friday, in an attack the minister of information branded a "war crime".
Pro-Iran Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen said a cameraman and broadcast engineer were killed in the strike on a journalists' residence in Hasbaya, south Lebanon.
Another TV outlet, Al-Manar, run by Hezbollah, said one of its video journalists was also killed in the strike on a bungalow located in a resort that several media organisations covering the Israel-Hezbollah war had rented out.
"The Israeli enemy waited for the journalists' nighttime break to betray them in their sleep," Information Minister Ziad Makary said in a post on X.
"This is an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with prior planning and design, as there were 18 journalists there representing seven media institutions. This is a war crime."
Journalists from other media organisations, including Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed, Sky News Arabic and Al Jazeera English, were also resting nearby when the strike hit overnight.
Israel has not commented on the strike, which, according to Lebanon's health ministry, also wounded three other people.
The area where the journalists were located is outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds.
Israel has been at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon since late last month, in a bid to secure its northern border after nearly a year of cross-border fire from the Iran-backed armed group.
Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the deadliest in its history.
After nearly a year of war in Gaza sparked by the attack, Israel expanded its focus to Lebanon and last month launched a massive bombing campaign targeting mainly Hezbollah strongholds across the country, sending in ground troops on September 30.
The war in Lebanon has killed at least 1,580 people, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.