Israeli tank fire killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injured six other international journalists in a double strike in southern Lebanon on October 13, forensic analysis by CNN suggests, confirming reports by two news organizations and two human rights groups.
On Thursday, Reuters, AFP, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released investigations into the circumstances of the deadly strike. AFP and HRW claimed the strike was a "deliberate," targeted attack by Israel on the journalists. In a statement to Reuters, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Richard Hecht said, “We don’t target journalists.” He did not provide further comment, the news agency reported.
The Israeli military on Friday said the incident is still “under review.”
“On October 13, 2023, the terrorist organization Hezbollah launched an attack on multiple targets within Israeli territory along the Lebanese border,” the IDF said in a statement. “One incident involved the firing of an anti-tank missile, which struck the border fence near the village Hanita.”
“Following the launch of the anti-tank missile, concerns arose over the potential infiltration of terrorists into Israeli territory. In response, the IDF used artillery and tank fire to prevent the infiltration. The IDF is aware of the claim that journalists who were in the area were killed,” it said.
“The area is an active combat zone, where active fire takes place and being in this area is dangerous. The incident is currently under review,” according to the statement.
CNN’s forensic analysis of multiple videos, including a live AFP video feed from the time and place of the attack, has determined that the two strikes – 37 seconds apart – that hit the journalists was a supersonic event that came from the direction of Israel.
Israel and Hezbollah were engaged in intense crossfire across the Lebanon-Israel border at the time.
CNN has also seen a photo from the scene of the attack showing the tail fin of a 120-millimeter tank shell. The photo was verified by a source familiar with the investigation.
Neither the Lebanese army nor Iran-backed Hezbollah are known to have such ammunition in their arsenal.
“That is a 120mm high explosive tank shell. Very clearly high explosive and not a different type of shell,” said Marc Garlasco, a former defense intelligence analyst and UN war crimes investigator, who saw the photo obtained by CNN as well as video of the aftermath of the attack. “(Aftermath video is) very indicative of a direct fire munition and matches with the 120 fragments.”
“The shooter should have seen the journalists from the tank,” he added.
British weapons expert Chris Cobb-Smith said the photograph of the remnants of the shell clearly showed an “expended tank round.”
“Two projectiles hit the area of the media crews and from the damage to the wall, the location where Issam’s body ended up and from an analysis of the second crater, I believe the shots came from the area of the high ground just over the border,” said Cobb-Smith, referring to a foot-high wall seen in aftermath video near Abdallah’s body.
Cobb-Smith said his analysis of the damage left by the projectile suggested that the attack came from a southeasterly direction.
CNN also consulted with audio expert Robert Maher, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Montana State University. Maher determined that the attack was likely a “supersonic event” due to the absence of an “approaching whoosh or whine, as you might see with artillery fire.”
Cobb-Smith’s theory that the shells traveled from the southeast would be consistent of the findings of the investigations released Thursday.
Hours after the attack on October 13, CNN reported that the journalists attacked were wearing clearly labeled press flak jackets. It also reported that an Israeli Apache helicopter was seen over the site around the time of the attack, according to a Lebanese security source, which would have given Israeli forces added visibility over the journalists.
Israeli surveillance towers are seen in video of the attack, raising further doubt that Israel had not realized the tank crew was attacking journalists.
This post has been updated to include a statement from the IDF.
