Journalist Reportedly Hospitalized After Being Hit by Alleged ‘Israeli Strike’ During News Report

Steve Sweeney, a correspondent for the Russian state-controlled news organization RT, was reportedly wounded in Lebanon on Thursday after an alleged Israeli missile detonated next to him during a report.

Sweeney and cameraman Ali Rida were filming near Al-Qasmiya Bridge when their work was cut short by an explosion just feet away. Sweeney and Rida were both allegedly hospitalized with shrapnel injuries, with Rida claiming they had been “deliberately attacked” by Israeli forces while conducting a news report, despite being clearly marked in press vests.

“Our correspondent Steve Sweeney has been wounded by an Israeli strike in Lebanon,” announced RT editor-in-chief and close Putin ally Margarita Simonyan in a statement. “Both men are conscious in hospital, doctors are diagnosing extent of shrapnel damage. War journalists are not legitimate targets. We pray for them.”

The attack was condemned by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said the incident could not “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 continued, revealing that Moscow was “awaiting the response of international organizations.”

My close friend and colleague Steve Sweeney @SweeneySteve is nearly killed by an Israeli strike in Lebanon,” added RT’s Chay Bowes. “Their vehicles are clearly marked as Press. They wear Press markings. He’s alive. What more can we say.”

https://x.com/BowesChay/status/2034598733069844545

RT, a Russian state media outlet, ended U.S. operations in 2022 and was sanctioned by the State Department in 2024.

Watch above via RT.

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