Israel arrests Al Mayadeen's Palestine bureau chief in West Bank

The Palestine bureau chief of TV news channel Al-Mayadeen has been arrested by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, the broadcaster said Monday.

Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV cited sources which said that Israel’s internal security services, Shin Bet, detained Nasser al-Lahham from his home in Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank.

It added that the Israeli officers had been trying to locate the studio used by Lahham.

The TV channel which is aligned closely with Iran and its regional proxies including Lebanon’s Hezbollah was banned from reporting in the West Bank by Israel in November 2023.

Al-Mayadeen shared a short clip on its page on social media site X showing the moment Israeli personnel raided Lahham’s home, adding that his phones were confiscated.

Not much more information has been made available.

Israeli forces raided Lahham’s home in late October 2023 - weeks after the start of the Gaza war - and reportedly assaulted his wife and arrested his two sons.

A number of journalists condemned Lahham’s arrest and expressed solidarity with Al-Mayadeen.

Hezbollah, which came out of a devastating war with Israel last year and is under immense pressure to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state, also condemned the arrest.

Several reporters and workers at the network have been killed in Israeli strikes in south Lebanon during cross-border clashes with Hezbollah.

Qatar-owned pan-Arab news network Al Jazeera was banned from operating in Israel and the West Bank last year.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority followed with their own ban on Al Jazeera months later before removing that ban early this year.