Assaf Abu Rahhal

Assaf Abu Rahhal (; 18 December 1955 – 3 August 2010) was a veteran Lebanese journalist who was killed by the Israel Defense Forces during the 2010 Israel–Lebanon border clash, in which an Israeli reserve lieutenant colonel was killed and a captain was shot and injured by Lebanese sniper fire.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Abu Rahhal was the first Lebanese journalist killed since 2006 when Lebanese and Israeli forces clashed. He was one of five people to die in the incident, which received international attention and scrutiny, but he was the only journalist killed.

Personal The Lebanese border-area village of Odaisseh, as seen from Misgav Am, Israel. Assaf Abu Rahhal was a native of Kfeir, Hasbaya District, Lebanon. He was married and a father of three. He died in Odaisseh, Lebanon, while reporting for his newspaper, as a result of Israeli military fire. Final services were held at Saint George Roman Orthodox Church in Kfeir for the deceased.

Career Abu Rahhal worked for the Al Akhbar daily newspaper for four years where he was covering southern Lebanon. After an Israeli reserve lieutenant colonel was killed and a captain was shot and injured, the Israelis responded to the sniper fire from the Lebanese side of the border. UN forces intervened to bring a halt to the armed conflict. Reporters Without Borders said the Israelis wanted to install a surveillance camera on the site of the tree.

In all, one Israeli officer, three Lebanese soldiers and Lebanese journalist Abu Rahhal were killed in the incident. In addition one Israeli officer was wounded and on the Lebanese side four soldiers were wounded and Lebanese TV reporter Shoaib.

Reactions The killing of Abu Rahhal was condemned by Irina Bokova, who is the director-general of UNESCO: "I am deeply concerned about the circumstances in which Assaf Abu Rahhal was killed and his colleague Ali Shoaib injured ... I would further underline that freedom of expression, a fundamental human right, implies the possibility of exercising this right in safety. Armed forces are obligated to respect it."

Lebanon's Syndicate of Photographers and the Maharat Foundation condemned the attack. Ilan Roeh of Israeli radio died in 1999. Layal Najib, a freelance photographer, died in the border dispute in 2006. She was the last journalist to have been killed before Abu Rahhal.

The shooting of Lebanese TV journalist Ali Shabaan by Syrian forces on the Lebanese-Syrian border 9 April 2012 stirred up memories of Abu Rahhal at Al-Akhbar. Shabaan was the next journalist after Abu Rahhal to have been killed near the Lebanese border.