Farah Omar
فرح عمر

Killed by Israel on 21 Nov 2023

Archivist Notes

• Correspondent of Al-Mayadeen TV

• Killed alongside cameraman Rabie Maamari by an Israeli airstrike that targeted them after they had just finished their live broadcast. on November 21 in the town of Tyre Harfa in southern Lebanon, according to Al-Mayadeen, the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, and multiple news reports.

• The crew were covering back-and-forth fire on the Tayr Harfa/Al-Jebin triangle in southern Lebanon between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.

• An Israeli warplane fired two rockets on Farah and Rabih's location. Farah and Rabih had just ended a live broadcast at 10 a.m., giving updates on the latest Israeli bombardment in South Lebanon. She and her colleagues were targeted soon after they wrapped up their coverage and went off air.

Omar, born in 1998, and Al Maamari were live on air giving an update from Tayr Harfa, about a mile from the Israeli border, just before they were hit. Omar joined Al-Mayadeen in 2021. She was buried in her town of Mashghara on November 22, 2023. Farah's professor at the university mourned her, saying: "She was very, very, very polite, shy, kind and beautiful. I write these descriptions with a lump in my throat and anger at her early departure."
Her distinguished reporting, particularly on events in southern Lebanon and Palestinian refugee camps, earned her the Best Arab Reporter Award in 2018.

Al-Mayadeen said in a statement that it believes its journalists were deliberately targeted because of its pro-Palestinian views. Ghassan Bin Jiddo, the channel’s director, said live on air that it will pursue an investigation, adding that “Israel by this is sending a message to Al-Mayadeen after deciding to close it in Occupied Palestine.”

According to The Associated Press, the Israeli military said its soldiers took action against an alleged threat posed by a weapons launching area in southern Lebanon. It said the attack was under review. But, on November 12, Israel’s security cabinet had approved a decision to shut down Al-Mayadeen TV in Israel. The move followed emergency regulations passed the previous month enabling the government to close foreign news outlets deemed to be harming national security, as reported by The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati alleged in a statement that the strike was an Israeli attempt to silence the media.
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Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/arabic/articles/c03e5r21npzo
https://cpj.org/data/people/farah-omar/
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--deliberately-kills-al-mayadeen-s-crew-in-south-leba
https://wjwc.org/news-en/on-international-womens-day-female-journalists-resilience-amid-professional-challenges