Journalists are increasingly becoming direct targets in conflict zones rather than mere witnesses, amid an unprecedented rise in violations against them while the world marks the World Press Freedom Day under escalating risks to media workers.Attacks by Israeli occupation forces against journalists have intensified in Palestine and Lebanon, as well as during incursions into southern Syria.The direct targeting of journalists has escalated alongside the expansion of Israeli military operations in the region, to the point that it has become a deliberate pattern.According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Israel has become the government entity most responsible for the deliberate killing of journalists.Data from the CPJ, based on a long-term methodology, shows that Israeli forces have killed five journalists and media workers in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in addition to eight journalists and media workers in Lebanon since the beginning of this year.Various other violations have also been recorded, including raids on their homes, interrogations, and the use of live ammunition and tear gas against Syrian journalists during military incursions.CPJ’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) Sara Qudah affirmed that they have documented 47 cases of journalists killed worldwide last year due to their work, 81% of whom were killed by Israel.In an interview with the Qatar News Agency (QNA), she said that since the events of October 7, 2023, the CPJ has verified that at least 64 journalists and media workers were directly targeted and killed by Israeli forces in retaliation for their work.Qudah added that investigations are ongoing into many other suspected cases of deliberate targeting, noting that over a 22-year period, the CPJ has documented the killing of at least 20 journalists by Israeli army fire, describing it as a “deadly pattern”.She pointed out that severe restrictions imposed on Gaza – including Israel’s ban on foreign media access, the destruction of communications infrastructure, mass displacement, and widespread casualties – have made verification of information extremely difficult.Qudah suggested that the total number of deliberate killings is likely much higher, especially given the destruction of substantial evidence, which may mean the true number of deliberately targeted Palestinian journalists in Gaza may never be known.The CPJ’s documentation shows that Israel has killed eight journalists and media workers in Lebanon this year alone, she said, confirming the motives behind the killing of four of them and classifying them as victims of deliberate assassination by Israeli fire.In Syria, particularly in Quneitra and areas near the occupied Golan Heights, the CPJ documented incidents involving journalists who reported that Israeli forces obstructed their work, detained and interrogated media workers, and in some cases destroyed their equipment or forced them to leave the areas they were covering.Qudah stressed that the prevailing culture of complete impunity enjoyed by Israel is a direct factor in the continued targeting of journalists without deterrence, alongside evasion of international legal obligations and the failure to conduct transparent and credible investigations.In Lebanon, Minister of Information Paul Morcos said that nine journalists were killed in direct attacks by Israeli entity over the past two months, with three others injured.He told the QNA that from October 2023 to January, 20 Lebanese journalists were killed by occupation fire.Morcos noted that the ministry has initiated legal action to compile a case on the targeting of journalists, co-ordinate with the United Nations and international rapporteurs, and submit formal complaints to international bodies, including Unesco and the Human Rights Council.He added that the ministry has intensified meetings with international officials from the United Nations, the European Union, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), aiming to build international pressure to halt these violations.Morcos also highlighted co-ordination with the Bar Association and Journalists Syndicate to strengthen the legal case being prepared, including drafting a legal study aimed at prosecuting Israel over the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure across Lebanese cities and towns, and exploring ways to enhance accountability and ensure necessary protections for journalists.The minister condemned the repeated and direct targeting of journalists by Israeli forces while performing their professional duties, most recently the killing of journalists Zeinab Faraj and Amal Khalil.Morcos stressed that such acts constitute a grave violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols, which guarantee the protection of journalists during armed conflicts.He called for an independent and transparent international investigation into these crimes and for deterrent measures against Israel to stop the targeting of journalists, affirming that such attacks will not deter Lebanese journalism from fulfilling its role in conveying the truth, while placing responsibility on the international community.Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, Omar Nazzal, said that the reasons that previously drove the Israeli occupation forces to target journalists were to deter the press and media from conveying the facts and details of the crimes committed against the Palestinian people, and to try to cover up those crimes, as they feared for their image in front of the world.However, he continued, after the events of October 7, 2023, the matter became different and took a different direction; the main battle became the battle of narrative and storytelling between the occupation and its allies in the world, which declined and crumbled globally, in contrast to the ability of Palestinian journalists to convey the Palestinian narrative about the right of the landowners to defend their rights.Nazzal told the QNA that, in light of the battle over narratives in Palestine, the Israeli occupation saw this critical situation as an incentive to target Palestinian, Arab, and foreign journalists, conveying the message that anyone who continues to work in the Palestinian territories in a manner that reinforces the Palestinian narrative will pay the price, whether through arrest, killing, being prevented from reporting, or even having their family targeted.About 600 members of journalists’ families were killed during the last war, he said, which serves as a deterrent message to Palestinian journalists that their continued work in journalism may affect their families, which aims to stop coverage completely.Nazzal stressed that incitement had reached its peak on the political and military levels, and even among some Israeli journalists at various levels, to the point of describing it as a crime punishable by death against Palestinian journalists.He pointed to an escalating pattern of Israeli attacks against Palestinian journalists, which witnessed a significant rise after the events of October 7, 2023, affecting the entire Palestinian, Arab, and foreign media body, until there became an Israeli system working to stifle and kill journalists who only want to convey one narrative.He also touched upon the prosecution of the Israeli occupation for its crimes against Palestinian journalists.Nazzal said that the Syndicate has submitted a number of cases to the International Criminal Court since the killing of journalists Ahmed Abu Hussein and Yasser Murtaja in 2018 in Gaza, in addition to the bombing of about 50 media headquarters in the sector and other cases, but the court has not taken any action in these cases or opened a serious investigation.In Syria, during the Israeli incursions into its territory, attacks on journalists continue in the same context, through the firing of live ammunition, preventing coverage, raiding their homes and arresting them, as confirmed by journalist Muhammad Fahd, Syria TV correspondent in Quneitra.He stated that a force from the Israeli occupation army, consisting of 50 members and four military vehicles, stormed his house in March at dawn in the town of Jubata Al-Khashab in Quneitra Governorate, southwest of Syria, and terrorised his family members.Fahd told the QNA that the occupation forces brandished their weapons immediately upon him opening the door, and despite informing them that his family members were in the house, they did not respect the sanctity of the home, and searched all the contents of his work, including cameras, his personal devices and his phone, and subjected him to interrogation for a full hour inside his home.He indicated that the Israeli occupation forces threatened him with taking action against him if he continued to film the occupation army patrols that had entered the governorate, which led to his work being restricted later, as he no longer filmed what was happening in terms of Israeli attacks inside his country, especially since the questions focused on his work in monitoring Israeli incursions and filming army patrols.Fahd believes that what happened to him has been repeated in various incidents with his colleagues in other media outlets, which directly affected their work.He stressed that this constitutes a clear violation of press and media freedom.The targeting of journalists in conflict zones is no longer merely collateral damage of war, but has become a systematic pattern that threatens the very essence of journalism and the world’s right to know the truth.Between Gaza, Lebanon, and southern Syria, testimonies and facts intersect to confirm that the battle is no longer just military, but is also a battle over the narrative, in which force is used to silence the voice that conveys reality as it is.World Press Freedom Day is supposed to be an occasion to promote the protection of journalists but violations present the international community with a real test: either to implement international laws into effective accountability mechanisms, or to accept the continuation of impunity.Meanwhile, journalists continue their work on the front lines, driven by the responsibility to convey the truth, whatever the cost.

Farmers around the world are facing the second surge in fertiliser prices in four years due to the Iran war. But with grain prices too low to cushion the blow from the deeper supply crunch this time around, many ‌are rethinking planting plans, putting global food production at risk. The Middle East is a leading fertiliser production hub, and much of the ​global fertiliser trade typically passes through the Strait of ‌Hormuz, which has seen traffic brought to a standstill by the conflict. Supplies of urea -- a nitrogen-based fertiliser -- from the world’s largest ‌production facility in Qatar have been halted, and flows of sulphur and ‌ammonia, common inputs for a range of fertilisers, have also been ‌curbed. With a resolution of the conflict proving elusive, analysts, traders, fertiliser producers and agronomists are looking back at the last supply crisis, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, worried that this time things could get even worse. “Back in 2022, a lot of the fertiliser was ultimately flowing through,” said Shawn Arita of the Agricultural Risk Policy Center at North Dakota State University. “It’s a much steeper supply crunch that we’re seeing now.” As fertiliser prices have jumped since the onset of the war in late February, urea has seen the sharpest price spike, reflecting the loss of the roughly one-third of globally traded volumes typically exported from the Gulf. Some are paying. India, the world’s largest rice producer and second-biggest wheat grower, has booked record volumes of urea in a single import tender, paying nearly twice as much as it did just two months ago. But such price levels are ​beyond the reach of many, analysts say. In 2022, high global grain prices helped farmers offset the steep increase in input costs caused by the Ukraine war. But ample harvests of grains and oilseeds in recent years have restrained crop prices. Chicago wheat prices are roughly half what they were four years ago, for example. Soybeans were nearly 50% higher ‌than now. As a result, many growers today lack the revenue to absorb ballooning fertiliser bills. Nitrogen-based fertilisers ​such as urea must be applied each season for many crops and directly influence annual yields as well as quality parameters, ​including protein content in wheat. Farmers can cut back on other core nutrients, such as phosphate and potash, without immediate yield losses. At least 2mn metric tonnes of urea production -- equivalent to some 3% of annual seaborne trade -- have been lost since the conflict began, according to Sarah Marlow of commodity data provider Argus, as plants shut down in the Middle East as well as in India, Bangladesh and Russia. Nearly 1mn tonnes already loaded on vessels, meanwhile, remain stuck in the Gulf. Even if hostilities end soon and the Hormuz strait reopens, just clearing the queue will take weeks, said Mark Milam of commodity market intelligence firm ICIS. And fertiliser availability will likely remain constrained for months due to damage to Gulf production facilities and competition for ‌limited alternative supplies. “It’s going to take a while to ‌get back to normal,” said Stephen Nicholson, Rabobank’s head of North American grains and oilseeds. Many farms still have fertilisers on hand, while record harvests last year have boosted global grain stocks. So the immediate impact of the current crisis on global food supplies may be limited. In 2022, high fertiliser costs contributed to exacerbated hunger in poor, import-dependent countries, and analysts say regions like East Africa are again vulnerable. In Europe, spring planting decisions are shifting against input-intensive corn in countries including France, while reduced top-up nitrogen applications may trim protein content in this summer’s wheat harvest, analysts said. The larger risk, however, will come during autumn planting, when cash-strapped European farmers could cut overall grain area. “That’s why we’re starting to get a little worried about the 2027 ‌harvest,” said Benoit Fayaud of Expana.