Israeli strikes reportedly kill 2 journalists, 1 civilian in southern Lebanon
Two journalists were killed by Israeli bombing near the Lebanon-Israel border on Tuesday, according to Al-Mayadeen, the Beirut-based television channel they worked for.
Al-Mayadeen confirmed that reporter Farah Omar and photojournalist Rabie Al-Maamari were both killed near the southern Lebanese town of Tir-Harfa, about a mile from the Israeli frontier.
"The occupation targeted the Al-Mayadeen team directly and definitely intentionally," the channel said in a statement on Tuesday. "I tell the Israeli enemy that you will not be able to silence the voices of Al-Mayadeen. We will remain and continue our coverage and our honorable journalistic work, whose priority is covering the crimes of the occupation in Gaza, the West Bank, Palestine and Lebanon."
The Lebanese National News Agency reported that a civilian -- an 80-year-old woman -- was also killed by an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Kafr Kila, about 35 miles northwest of Tir-Harfa.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has voiced support for Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and has been clashing with Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border in recent weeks, released a statement on Tuesday "strongly condemning" the deaths.
"This aggression and the accompanying martyrdom of other citizens will not pass without a response from the fighters of the Islamic Resistance who are fighting in the field," the group added.
Hezbollah later issued another statement saying it had retaliated with a missile attack on Israeli troops near the border. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed in a separate statement that a number of rocket launches were identified from Lebanon toward Israeli territory in recent hours.
-ABC News' Ghazi Balliz, Marcus Moore, Bruno Roeber and Morgan Winsor