Palestinian resistance factions, Hezbollah slam assassination of Lebanese journalist 

Palestinian resistance movements and Hezbollah have issued strong condemnations after Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on the al-Tiri area of southern Lebanon.

The al-Akhbar daily reporter was assassinated in an Israeli strike in the southern town of at-Tiri, where her body was later recovered from the rubble.

According to Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed TV, Khalil was killed on Wednesday after becoming trapped beneath debris following Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon.

Ali Baraka, head of Hamas' National Relations Abroad, called the targeted killing a horrendous crime designed to silence voices that expose the atrocities of the Zionist occupiers.

He described deliberate attacks on journalists as a full-fledged war crime and a clear sign of Israel's criminal approach: muzzling free speech, blocking the spread of truth, and hiding its own brutalities.

Baraka noted that the assassination of the al-Akhbar daily journalist occurred in an area where the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is deployed. That fact, he said, exposes the Tel Aviv regime's utter disregard for international law, treaties, and humanitarian principles.

He stressed that Israel bears full responsibility for Khalil's murder and urged the UN, along with international legal and media bodies, to act immediately, to hold Israeli officials accountable and to protect journalists in conflict zones.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also condemned the killing.

"With all feelings of anger and pride, we mourn the loss of Amal Khalil, a journalist for al-Akhbar, who was martyred Wednesday evening in the town of al-Tiri in southern Lebanon, near the border with the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories," the movement said in a statement.

"She was killed in a deliberate Israeli aerial assault while performing her professional duty: conveying the truth about the brutal crimes the Israeli occupation army is committing against the Lebanese nation and the peoples of the region."

The PFLP said Khalil's assassination is another crime added to the Israeli regime's black record, a regime that has never hesitated to target journalists in a desperate attempt to silence free voices and hide the truth from the world.

"However, these crimes will not erase the facts or break the will of the free word," the statement added. "They will only strengthen the resolve of honorable media professionals to continue exposing the occupation's crimes and its practices, which are a stain on humanity."

Hezbollah, for its part, strongly condemned the deliberate targeting of Khalil, as well as the wounding of her colleague Zeinab Faraj and the prevention of paramedics from reaching them after they had taken shelter inside a house, before the enemy proceeded to directly strike the building.

"This act constitutes a fully defined crime in every sense," the Lebanese resistance group said in a statement.

"It confirms the depth of hatred this Zionist entity harbors toward every genuine patriotic Lebanese, regardless of their position or role," Hezbollah added.

The assassination, it continued, "also reveals the desperate, failed attempts to silence the free voice and break the will of a resistant national media that exposes its crimes and strips away its savage criminal face."

Hezbollah added, "We affirm that the path of free national media will continue to be trodden more steadfastly than ever. The Israeli enemy's terrorism and missile attacks will never succeed in silencing the voice that speaks loudly for truth and freedom."

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