Steve Sweeney is a British journalist serving as the Lebanon Bureau Chief for RT (Russia Today). On March 19, 2026, Sweeney and his cameraman, Ali Rida, were injured while filming a report near the Al-Qasmiya Bridge in southern Lebanon. Video footage recorded the moment a missile struck.
24 March 2026 Rumble | Telegram
Clip Sources:
- Missile (19 Mar) (01)
- Steve Sweeney after hospital (19 Mar) (02)
- Article: Deliberate attack on Press article (with more videos) (19 Mar)(03)
- Ali Rida Sbeity – Hospital in great spirits (19 Mar) (04)
- Back in Field (24 Mar) (05)
- Ali Rida Sbeity – White Phosphorus, South Lebanon (24 Mar) (06)
- 29 Killed Navi Sheet (7 Mar) (07)
- 17 Killed in Israeli Airstrike (21 Mar) (08)
- Ethnic Cleansing (24 Mar) (09)
Steve Sweeney is an experienced war correspondent who has reported from various conflict zones, including Iraq. He is currently based in Beirut and has been actively covering the recent escalation of the conflict in southern Lebanon, which intensified after the outbreak of the wider war involving Israel and Iran on March 2, 2026. His reporting has focused on the humanitarian impact of the Israeli military campaign, including the displacement of over one million people and attacks on infrastructure, which he has described in his reports as an “ethnic cleansing operation.” (10)
Steve Sweeney (Journalist) and Ali Reda Sbeity (Cameraman) were both injured from the shrapnel from the missile. After being treated in the Jabal Amal Hospital, Steve reported:
Yeah, well, you’ve probably all seen the footage of the airstrike that took place in the Sour/Tyre District as we were reporting on the destruction of a bridge. We’ve been treated in hospital for our injuries. I had a shrapnel wound in my arm, deeply embedded in the muscle here. That’s been taken out, and here it is in this pot here.
But what I do want to say is that this was a deliberate targeted attack on journalists. There’s no mistake about it. This was an Israeli precision strike from a fighter jet. What we were doing was we were reporting on the attacks on bridges, which is effectively severing south Lebanon from the rest of the country. One million people now internally displaced. This is the real story. It’s not about us coming under attack. During this, what we’re seeing now and what we were reporting on is this plan for Israel to ethnically cleanse the south of Lebanon.This is without doubt an attack. This is on the scale or bigger than the scale of the Nakba. This is the fourth displacement of a million people, which remains a war crime, and also we have to say that attacking journalists is a war crime; attacking civilian infrastructure is a war crime.
But if they think that they’re going to silence us, if they think that we’re going to stay out of the field, they’re very much mistaken.
They were wearing the “Press” jackets, but weren’t wearing a helmet (probably will from now on!) They didn’t expect any missiles in that particular area, because the bridge they were reporting on, was already destroyed.
The IDF is saying that they were targeting a bridge that was located there and that they were issued a warning about the upcoming strike.
The next clip is of Scott Ritter, an expert on military equipment and former UN weapons inspector analyzing the video:
Cursory examination of the video evidence that has been shown seems to indicate that the projectile was a 155-millimeter artillery shell that’s been modified to have a GPS guidance system fins in the back to guide it in. It seems to be a derivative of the American Excalibur shell, probably modified by the Israelis to meet their specific requirements. But the important thing is this indicates that this was an observed target – their ‘eyes on’ target. A decision was made to specifically strike that target, which means they knew it was Press. They knew it was a journalist. This was an assassination attempt by Israel to kill RT journalists.
Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector
Scott Ritter: Former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and served as a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. This background gives him genuine technical expertise in military munitions and battlefield assessment. He was a prominent critic of the 2003 Iraq War, correctly arguing that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction when U.S. intelligence claimed otherwise. This has earned him credibility among critics of U.S. foreign policy. His analysis adds an informed technical opinion, but because he is not an independent, neutral source (he is a paid RT contributor, and wrote a book called “Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change“), his conclusion that this was a deliberate attack on these journalists should be weighed against other evidence. (11) (12)
Wow, I just browsed through his book on Archive.org (which only allows you to search the book and not read it cover-to-cover), and even though it was published in 2006, I’m having some déjà vu moments:
- p.13, p.25: Lists the pro-Israeli lobbies and their powerful influence “that can only be described as outright espionage and interference in the domestic politics of a sovereign state” […] “corrupting the very independent character that Israel sought to develop to begin with“.
- p.23: Intelligence data claiming Israel was facing two threats – Iran and Palestine – and that the best course of action would be to seek regime change in Iran.
- p.217: Hezbollah being a legitimate expression of the people of Lebanon who rose up in response to the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon in 1982 (not a nonstate terrorist movement as portrayed by Israel and the United States).
Next is the clip of an interview with Steve Sweeney after the attack.
Boy, that thing came – dude, that thing came so close to you.
Just watching that footage back now, you realize just how lucky we were, really, to be honest. I’m amazed that we survived.
I’m trying to figure out when you realize, “Oh crap, there’s a missile coming at me.”
Well, we were just finishing off – that was coming to the end of the report actually – and we heard the fighter jets were roaring overhead. They’ve been overhead over the course of our filming, which is usual in South Lebanon. We hear them roaring overhead quite often, but they were heading away from our direction at that point towards Tyre. Then we heard the missile incoming. Now everything sort of went in a little bit of slow motion, and then we heard the impact, and like I said, we were incredibly lucky to come away with the injuries that we did. I mean, they’re fairly minor.
But Scott Ritter said, and I think he’s right to say, that this was a deliberately targeted attack. There’s no question about it. This was a bridge that had already been destroyed. There was no warning. Quite often there are warning strikes ahead of a major strike – sound bombs – and we were right by a Lebanese army base, so quite often they get a message to the Lebanese army to say we’re about to strike this bridge. So there was nothing. There was no pre-warning. But this was, without any shadow of a doubt, this was a precision strike to kill us essentially.
What I’m interested in – forget the reporting, we get all that – I’ve never seen somebody in a situation like this who, thank God, has been able to live to tell about it. So what I’m interested in is, in that moment, how long did you have from the moment you made a realization there was a missile coming at you to the moment where you go, “Oh my god, I got to get out of the way” Take us through that for you personally.
Yeah, there was no time to get out of the way. This was milliseconds. So we didn’t even realize it was coming in. I think we’re talking less than a second between the sound of the missile incoming and the impact. So there was no time to get out of the way, really. It was just by luck that we survived, and it was by luck that we were standing in the position that we were. Just less than a minute before, we’d been standing right on the impact site where the missile impacted. We were taking other footage, b-roll footage. So had we been just a meter or so away from the position that we were, we would almost certainly have been killed. So yeah, there’s no time to think. You probably heard my very colourful language as we made our way away from the missile, but it all happened so very quickly.
Yeah, and you know what people need to understand – and sometimes they don’t because they’ve never been in that situation – and courageous guys like you who’ve been in this situation understand this too: that shrapnel is essentially a missile in and of itself. It’s a giant piece of metal, and if it had not gone into your arm – where did it hit you, your arm, elbow, hand?
Well, I mean, the shrapnel hit me in a number of places. The worst part was this arm. This is my left arm, and I have the shrapnel here. This was a very small piece of shrapnel, actually, but it can cause terrible damage, of course. It can sever arteries and yeah, this kind of thing. So it was lodged very deep inside me. They had to make another cut to get it out. So it’s not just a missile that you have to be careful of; it’s the shrapnel that can cause very serious –
Yeah, and that kills – that’s my point. You’re lucky it hit your arm, because if it hits your head, you’re dead. We don’t choose where it goes. There have been people who have perished as a result of this kind of thing. You’re a great reporter. You’re a good person, and we’re just so happy that you’re okay.
Next clip is just a quick one showing they are now wearing their helmets and they will “never go silent”.
Next clip is reporting on the white phosphorus that Israel is spraying:
While we’re driving now around Khiam, and we’ve seen the Israeli army have used white phosphorus. They targeted the white phosphorus among the civilian buildings, between the civilian buildings in the city of Khiam. Although the city is empty right now – all the people have been forcibly displaced into Saida, Beirut, and northern Lebanon – and the city is empty, but still they use the white phosphorus among and between the houses. This is not the first time that they have used it. We’ve seen it now in Khiam and we documented it. We’ve seen it in Ayta ash-Shaab in Nabatieh district, in Yohmor and Shqif. Almost every village in the south of Lebanon and among the borders between Palestine and south Lebanon have been targeted by white phosphorus during this war, and during the 66-day war, and among the ceasefire which was for one year and five months. So this weapon has been used more often by the Israeli army in this region. (13) (14)
Next clip is a silent video of the aftermath of Nabi Sheet (Al-Nabi Shayth). (15)
Next is a clip from Steve again from earlier in the war:
The people of Sir el Gharbiyeh prepare to bury their dead. This will be the resting place for 17 souls killed in a massacre here on Sunday. But even in death there is no respite; fighter jets and drones have been overhead. There is an outpouring of grief, naturally, but there was also a sense of anger, a sense of defiance, and as Western media outlets in their offices in London, in New York, or Paris speak of a growing rift and a growing sense of anger amongst Hezbollah’s base of support, the picture on the ground tells a very different story. (16) (17)
Of course, we’re used to it. We were born here, and every home reflects the spirit of resistance in the south. We’re not abandoning resistance; on the contrary, we grow stronger with the emergence of resistance. Every home in the south is a symbol of resistance. We will continue the struggle for the liberation of the south, the liberation of Lebanon, and the liberation of the Arabs.
Unnamed local resident
The more we are attacked and the more injustice we suffer, the stronger our resolve and will become. There is no doubt about it. We have two options: if we surrender, they will rule us. We will never accept the rule of these Zionists. Therefore, only victory or death remains. There is no other option. The Western media constantly spread lies, but reality invariably refutes them. The world sees everything, and no matter how many lies there are, the truth will eventually emerge. The truth will inevitably come to light. There can be no doubt about that. ~ Unnamed local resident
Unnamed local resident
Well, this is the site of a Sunday night’s attack. What you can see around me is a scene of carnage, a scene of devastation. Whatever was used here was a very powerful munition. It came from an Israeli fighter jet. It struck without warning in the early hours of the morning. What you can see here is what’s left of a three-story building. This was home to three families, three brothers. Their lives wiped out in an instant. Every death a tragedy. Every death a war crime. (Steve Sweeney, Journalist)
Everyone was asleep, including me. We woke up around 6:15 to 6:20 to a loud explosion. We went outside, saw smoke coming from somewhere, and headed there to provide medical assistance. We found a completely destroyed three-story residential building. The building was completely destroyed, and we began searching for people who might have been inside. Body parts were found on the road, as well as children thrown from the building. Numerous civilian casualties were found right inside the building, all of them members of the same family. Brothers and relatives, all civilians without exception. ~ Unnamed local resident
Unnamed local resident
Well, as we’ve been filming, we’ve heard at least four or five bombs going off somewhere in the distance behind us, which just shows the volatility of this part of the country and the scale of the ongoing Israeli attacks. Well, as you can see all around, this is clearly a civilian area. It’s not a military target. Children under the age of 10 were killed in that Israeli strike. Now it’s important to note that this area is north of the Litani River. In other words, it’s outside that exclusion zone the Israeli Defense Force having issued a forced evacuation order for all areas south of the Litani River. (18) Now the Lebanese Health Ministry, well, it’s revising its death toll upwards on a daily basis, and more than half a million people now have been forcibly displaced, with the government speaking of an impending humanitarian catastrophe. As the death toll continues to rise, people are now speaking of a long and protracted war. The general feeling is this is very different from 2024, and people are buckling down for a very long conflict, with civilians paying the ultimate price.
Well, we’re back in the field. We’ve just finished filming, and the Israelis have issued another evacuation order warning civilians to head north of the Zahrani River, where we have just filmed now. There’s been heavy bombardment across the course of Monday, striking bridges in south Lebanon, striking roads. Most notably, perhaps, the Al-Qasmiya Bridge. This is very close to the bridge myself and Ali were targeted in the Israeli airstrike on Thursday. But this is the main civilian bridge. It links Saida, known as Sidon, or Sour, known as Tyre, and what this effectively does, and what the bombing is effectively doing, is cutting off a third of the country. Some 20% of the Lebanese population – one million people – have now been forcibly displaced due to the Israeli evacuation orders. This is an ethnic cleansing operation on a scale far larger even than the Nakba.
Now the Israelis are facing fierce resistance: 64 operations by Hezbollah over the course of Sunday, many more of course again today. So this talk of a massive ground operation is not going to be the easy ride that they might think it will be. But we also have to say that if it wasn’t for the resistance, the Zionists would have expanded their operations, their plan for Greater Israel, and they would have already hoisted the Zionist flag over Beirut, and of course, this being the Israelis, they wouldn’t stop there.
So this is the situation that we’re facing now: this huge ethnic cleansing operation in south Lebanon. Israel, of course, has ordered the destruction of all of the frontline villages. This – they’re calling it the Gaza model being imported here into Lebanon. But of course, this is a model that they have already used inside this country: Al-Hula in the south already destroyed, large parts of Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, already destroyed. So this is what we’re seeing, and it is being aided and abetted and funded by Western governments.
Interview the next day with both Steve and Ali:
