Steve Sweeney, a British journalist working for Russia Today, was targeted by an Israeli missile on Wednesday (18) while covering Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon.
Sweeney was speaking to the camera about rocket attacks seconds before a missile passed over his head and exploded on a bridge behind him.
The journalist stopped speaking when he noticed the attack approaching. The explosion knocked over the camera and scattered shrapnel across the area. Other people at the scene were shouting and trying to identify where the next attack would occur.
Russia Today’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, stated that Sweeney and his cameraman were taken to the hospital, where they were conscious and being examined for shrapnel injuries.
The journalist wrote on his social media that “it was clearly a deliberate attack by the Israelis against journalists reporting on the ground.”
He was wearing a press identification vest and reminded that “targeting journalists is a war crime.”
Sweeney insisted that Israeli forces “knew we were there” on the bridge where the missile struck, and said the bridge was already “destroyed.”
Israel has been targeting bridges in southern Lebanon, claiming they are crossing points used by Hezbollah to move troops and weapons, according to the BBC.
The BBC also reported that since Lebanon entered the war on March 2, hundreds of people have been killed in the country and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes under Israeli threats.
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Source and images: X @DailyNewsJustIn and @SweeneySteve. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
🇮🇱🇱🇧 Insane footage shows an Israeli airstrike impacting right next to RT journalist Steve Sweeney in southern Lebanon.Russia Today says Steve and his cameraman are both conscious in the hospital. pic.twitter.com/vkRpZy9m8d
— The Daily News (@DailyNewsJustIn) March 19, 2026
