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By Matthew Robinson and Brendan Cole
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Video footage has emerged that shows the moment a British journalist was almost struck by a missile in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
Steve Sweeney and cameraman Ali Rida, who both work for the network RT, experienced the near hit during an Israeli airstrike, the outlet said. The video appears to show the munition landing just meters behind Sweeney as he dives for cover.
After the munition exploded, the camera was left upturned pointing at the sky, and a male voice could be heard shouting expletives in shock.
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The segment appears on the RT website, which said Sweeney and his camera operator had been filming in southern Lebanon. It said an Israeli aircraft had fired a missile at their position near Al-Qasmiya Bridge, not far from a military base.
Rida said without evidence that Israeli forces "deliberately attacked" the crew, though they wore uniforms identifying them as members of the media. Newsweek has contacted the Israel Defense Forces for comment.
Both men remained conscious after the strike, according to reports, and they were taken to a nearby hospital, where they are receiving treatment. In a separate video on the RT website, Rida said both he and Sweeney were fine.
Israel National News cited the IDF as saying that it had targeted Litani River crossings, which Hezbollah "used for both terrorist movement and to transfer thousands of weapons, including rockets and rocket launchers intended to be used against IDF troops and Israeli civilians in terrorist attacks."
The IDF said that before the strikes, it issued warnings to stay away from the crossings.
"In footage released in the past few hours, a journalist is seen at the Qasmiya crossing. An explicit warning had been issued regarding this area," the IDF said, according to the outlet. "The crossing was struck after sufficient time had passed since warnings. The crossing was again targeted today (Thursday) at 12:30."
"The IDF does not target civilians or journalists and operates in accordance with international law," the statement added.
Warning: Footage of the incident is graphic—viewer discretion advised.
Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT, wrote on X: "Our correspondent Steve Sweeney has been wounded by an Israeli strike in Lebanon. He says an IDF plane fired upon the car carrying Steve and his cameraman, as they were crossing a bridge in the south of the country.
"Both men are conscious in hospital, doctors are diagnosing extent of shrapnel damage. War journalists are not legitimate targets. We pray for them."
The clip has been widely shared on social media—with users describing Sweeney as a "propagandist" in connection with his work for RT, a Russian state-funded channel.
The outlet Visegrád 24 shared the 41-second video with its 1.7 million followers, writing in the caption, "Kremlin propagandist Steve Sweeney of Russia Today (RT), who had been praising Iran and Hezbollah, and his cameraman were both injured in an airstrike in southern Lebanon."
It comes as Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli air raids on southern Lebanon had killed at least four people. One incident was a strike on the outskirts of Adloun on Thursday, about 11 miles south of Sidon. Another was during a separate Israeli attack on the Tyre district.
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least 45 people over the past two days and injured more than 100, Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health said on Thursday.
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