Reporter Steve Sweeney and his crew have narrowly escaped an IDF attack on their reporting position with their lives RT correspondent Steve Sweeney and his cameraman, Ali Rida, have been injured in an Israeli strike while filming in southern Lebanon. They said an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at their filming position near Al-Qasmiya Bridge, not far from a local military base. Rida said Israeli forces “deliberately attacked” the crew despite their wearing uniforms displaying their press credentials. Rida’s camera captured the moment of the strike as he filmed Sweeney’s report. The footage shows the missile hitting less than ten meters behind Sweeney as he ducks for cover. Both are conscious and receiving medical aid at a local hospital. Rida also shared footage of doctors removing shrapnel from Sweeney’s arm. In a separate video, he said both he and Sweeney were fine, joking that “it turns out that when a missile is flying at you, you can hear it.” RT journalists have frequently been injured while covering major conflicts, particularly in Ukraine, including, most recently, correspondents Igor Zhdanov and Roman Kosarev, who were wounded in drone and artillery strikes while embedded with frontline units. RT Arabic stringer Khaled Alkhateb, 25, was killed in 2017 while covering a Syrian government offensive against Islamic State. The network later established the Khaled Alkhateb International Memorial Awards for Best Journalism from a Conflict Zone in his honor. RT teams in the Middle East – during the Gaza war and the current escalation around Iran – have also reported multiple close calls, from shrapnel wounds in drone attacks to injuries from tear gas and rubber bullets. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has condemned Israel over Thursda‘s strike, saying the attack on journalists wearing press markings “cannot be called accidental given the killing of two hundred journalists in Gaza.” “Especially since the rocket did not hit a ‘significant strategic military facility’, but rather the location where the report was being filmed,” she wrote on Telegram, adding that Moscow is “awaiting the response of international organizations.” Multiple press freedom groups and human rights organizations have accused Israeli forces of deliberately targeting journalists. Since the regional escalation began on February 28, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says at least three journalists have been killed in Iran and Gaza. Overall, it estimates more than 250 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel since 1992 – more than by any other government in that period. CPJ has classified at least 64 cases as direct “murders,” where evidence suggests journalists were targeted for their work. The incident comes amid Israel’s “limited and targeted” ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, launched on Monday after the group – which has close ties to Iran – carried out strikes on Israel following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. On Wednesday, Israel explicitly threatened to target bridges in southern Lebanon. The military said it aimed to hit crossings over the Litani River to prevent Hezbollah from moving reinforcements and weapons south, and declared the area south of the Zahrani River a military zone, warning that any vehicle there could also be targeted. Media reports say at least three major bridges over the Litani have been destroyed so far: one connected to the city of Tyre, while another south of Nabatieh has effectively cut off large parts of southern Lebanon. Defense Minister Israel Katz called the strikes a “clear message” that Israel will not allow Hezbollah to use Lebanese infrastructure for military purposes. International observers and local authorities have warned the destruction of crossings is disrupting civilian movement and aid delivery. A group of European countries and Canada on Monday urged Israel to halt the ground operation, warning of “devastating humanitarian consequences.” Lebanese officials say more than 1 million people have been displaced by Israel’s ground offensive and airstrikes since the start of the month.