A television presenter affiliated with Lebanon’s Al Manar television station has been killed in an Israeli strike on the southern city of Tyre, according to statements from Hezbollah and Lebanese officials, deepening concerns about the expanding scope of hostilities in the country.
Hezbollah said Ali Nour al Din was killed on Monday in what it described as a targeted attack, warning that Israel’s military actions in Lebanon were increasingly endangering journalists and media workers. The group said the incident underscored what it called a widening escalation that no longer spared members of the media community.
Al Manar TV confirmed al Din’s death, saying he had previously worked at the station as a presenter of religious programming. Beyond his media role, Hezbollah said al Din was also the main preacher in Al Hawsh, an area on the outskirts of Tyre, and characterised the strike as a deliberate assassination.
Lebanon’s Minister of Information, Paul Morcos, condemned the attack, saying it reflected a pattern of strikes that were failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, including journalists. In a message shared on social media, Morcos expressed solidarity with Lebanon’s media sector and urged the international community to take urgent steps to halt violations and ensure the safety of media professionals operating in the country.
Earlier on Monday, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported that one person had been killed in an Israeli air strike in Tyre, without initially releasing the victim’s identity. The ministry also said a separate Israeli strike killed two people in Kfar Rumman near the southern city of Nabatieh.
The Israeli military later acknowledged responsibility for the strike in Tyre, describing al Din as a Hezbollah member, and confirmed that two other people were killed in the Nabatieh area during related operations.
The killing adds to a growing toll among journalists in Lebanon. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least six Lebanese journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks since 2023, while other monitoring groups place the figure as high as ten.
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Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the United States in 2024, ending more than a year of intense fighting that included widespread Israeli air strikes across Lebanon and significantly weakened Hezbollah’s military capabilities. Despite the truce, Israel has continued to carry out regular strikes on targets it says are linked to the group and has maintained troops at five positions in southern Lebanon.
Since the ceasefire took effect, more than 350 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes, according to figures cited by AFP. At the same time, Lebanese authorities have faced mounting pressure from the United States and Israel to move toward disarming Hezbollah.
Against this backdrop, Hezbollah on Monday called on its supporters to gather in its strongholds across Lebanon to show support for Iran, warning of what it described as American and Israeli threats against Tehran. The appeal came as a US aircraft carrier strike group arrived in the Middle East and President Donald Trump renewed warnings directed at Iran.
In a televised address, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said any attack on Iran would be viewed as an attack on Hezbollah itself, cautioning that a new conflict involving Tehran would ignite the wider region. He also warned that threats against Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be treated as threats against the group, as Iran signaled that any US attack would provoke a response with consequences across the Middle East.