UN force helps recover 7 people caught in Lebanese-Israeli fighting

The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said Lebanese troops requested assistance to bring back seven people caught in a firefight along the border with Israel. One person was killed.

The Lebanese military said the group included seven journalists, and one was also injured. It said Israeli soldiers shot at them with machine guns as they were in the outskirts of the village of Houla.

It did not identify them, but Iranian media said one was Mohsen Maghsoodi, a host on Iranian state television.

On X, formerly Twitter, Maghsoodi posted a picture of himself and two others lying low near a fence, with one of them holding a camera. He said the group was caught for “five or six hours” in the crossfire and their car “was seriously damaged by bullets and mortars.”

The six Iranian journalists were safe but one Lebanese journalist was killed, he wrote. That person has not been publicly identified, but Lebanese media said he had joined the group as a fixer.

UNIFIL said it had urged the Israeli military to suspend fire to facilitate the rescue and Israel complied, allowing Lebanese troops to mount the recovery.


Update: 2023-10-20 06:25 GMT

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