Hezbollah says Israeli strike killed Al-Manar TV presenter in southern Lebanon

Jan 26 (Reuters) – The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said on Monday that an Israeli strike in the country’s south killed TV presenter Ali Nour al-Din, who worked for the group’s affiliated Al-Manar television station.

The group said the killing portends “the danger of Israel’s extended escalations (in Lebanon) to include the media community”.

The Israeli military said later on Monday that al-Din was a Hezbollah militant who recently worked to rehabilitate the group’s artillery capabilities in southern Lebanon.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in 2024 to end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which culminated in Israeli strikes that severely weakened the Iran-backed militant group. Since then, the sides have traded accusations over ceasefire violations.

Lebanon has faced growing pressure from the U.S. and Israel to disarm Hezbollah. The group’s leaders fear that Israel could dramatically escalate strikes across the battered country, aiming to push the Lebanese government for quicker action to confiscate Hezbollah’s arsenal.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Menna Alaa El-Din; Writing by Menna Alaa El-Din)