Hezbollah said on Monday that an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed Ali Nour al-Din, a presenter for the group-affiliated Al-Manar television station. In a statement, the group cautioned that the killing illustrates "the danger of Israel’s extended escalations (in Lebanon) to include the media community".
Later on the same day, the Israeli military provided a contrasting account, saying al-Din was a Hezbollah militant who had recently worked to rehabilitate the group's artillery capabilities in southern Lebanon. The two statements present sharply different characterizations of al-Din's role and of the nature of the strike.
The incident occurred in the context of a ceasefire that the two sides agreed to in 2024, brokered by the United States, which ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Those hostilities had included Israeli strikes that the statement describes as having severely weakened the Iran-backed militant group. Since the ceasefire, both sides have continued to exchange accusations of violations.
Pressure on Lebanon to address Hezbollah's arsenal has been mounting. The country has faced intensified demands from the U.S. and Israel to disarm the militant group. Hezbollah leaders say they fear a renewed and dramatic expansion of Israeli strikes across Lebanon - a dynamic they say could be aimed at forcing the Lebanese government to move faster to confiscate the group's weapons.
The differing accounts from Hezbollah and the Israeli military underscore ongoing tensions over incidents along the border and the contested nature of many such events. The death of a media figure linked to a party in the conflict amplifies concerns about whether journalists and broadcasters associated with parties to the fighting may be caught up in future violence.
For now, public statements from both sides reflect persistent disagreement over actions taken since the 2024 ceasefire, with accusations of violations continuing to surface and with external pressure on Lebanon to change the status of Hezbollah's armaments. The reporting to date includes claims about the individual's affiliation and activities but does not reconcile those claims.