Journalist From the Frontlines Responds to Israel's Attempt to Assassinate Him on Camera

TL;DR

British-Irish RT journalist Steve Sweeney survived an Israeli F-16 missile strike on a destroyed Lebanese bridge where he was filming, which he calls a deliberate assassination attempt.

Key Points

• 1.Steve Sweeney survived a direct missile strike while reporting in South Lebanon. An Israeli F-16 fired a GBU-38 munition at the already-destroyed Kazmia bridge while Sweeney and cameraman Ali were filming; only a gust of wind that moved Ali away from the blast hole saved their lives.
• 2.Sweeney is unequivocal the strike was a targeted assassination, not an accident. The bridge had no military value — it was already destroyed — his press vehicle was well-known, they wore press jackets, and Israel's advanced surveillance means it knew exactly who was there.
• 3.Israel has systematically killed journalists covering its operations. Sweeney notes over 50 medical workers killed, targeted ambulances, and colleagues Fatima and Muhammad Fatuni were killed in a targeted strike just over a week after Sweeney's near-miss.
• 4.Israel bombed St. Peter's burial site (Shimoun Safa) in South Lebanon in 2024. The site, protected under world heritage law and holy to both Christians and Muslims, was deliberately targeted; an Israeli 'researcher' framed it as a Jewish holy site before being killed himself.
• 5.A documented pattern of Christian holy site destruction spans South Lebanon. A Greek Catholic church in Derajaya was bombed killing eight shelter-seekers; the Church of St. George and Imam Ali mosque in Yarun were destroyed; an Israeli soldier was filmed destroying a statue of St. George.
• 6.Sweeney describes Israel's actions as ethnic cleansing on a scale larger than the Nakba. Over 1.2 million Lebanese have been forcibly displaced — including 370,000 children — pushed out from 40km north of the Israeli border, with Israel openly stating it wants the land.
• 7.The British government offered no support and is actively investigating Sweeney for terrorism. He was detained by counter-terror police at Heathrow in July 2024, questioned about RT, Hezbollah, and Donbas work; the British embassy in Lebanon never contacted him after the assassination attempt.
• 8.Sweeney ended up at RT after the Ukraine conflict made independent journalism impossible in Western media. He was nearly kidnapped in Lviv by Ukrainians for not following the official narrative; he spent two years in Donbas witnessing Ukrainian strikes on civilian markets, hospitals, and bus stops.
• 9.Israel has committed over 15,000 ceasefire violations since November 2024. These include drone strikes, targeted assassinations, using chemical sprays to permanently destroy crops, bulldozing ancient olive groves — some 6,000 years old — and building five illegal military bases inside Lebanese territory.
• 10.Sweeney argues RT gives him more journalistic freedom than any British outlet. RT is banned in the UK and EU while the BBC operates freely inside Russia; Sweeney says if he tried to report with an RT microphone in London he would be arrested under laws treating it as unlawful foreign agent activity.