Terrifying moment British journalist is hit by missile while filming report

Warning: This article contains footage which some readers may find distressing and contains strong language.

A British journalist was hit by a missile while filming a report in Lebanon, which is currently being invaded by neighbouring country Israel.

Steven Sweeney was in Lebanon working for Russia Today, Russia's state funded broadcaster, when he was on camera and talking about rocket attacks before one could be heard overhead.

It then impacted the bridge behind him and exploded, knocking the camera to the ground and throwing debris into the air.

Sweeney could be heard swearing in the aftermath while other voices shouted in the background and the journalist repeatedly asked 'where'.

Sweeney, who claimed in a post last year that he was 'effectively exiled from my home country' after being detained by counter-terrorism officials at Heathrow, had yesterday (18 March) posted on social media that 'targeting journalists is a war crime' in response to the death of Mohammad Sherri, director of political programmes for Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.

The below video contains strong language:

RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan claimed that Sweeney had been 'wounded by an Israeli strike in Lebanon', saying a car with him and his cameraman in it had been fired on by an IDF plane while crossing a bridge in the south of Lebanon.

According to her, both of the men involved in the blast were in hospital and conscious, with doctors examining them for shrapnel damage.

Why is the US and Israel targeting Lebanon?

The BBC reports that Israel has been targeting bridges in the south of Lebanon, and that the Israeli military said in the hours before the strikes it would be targeting crossing points over the Litani river it claimed were being used by Hezbollah to move people and weapons.

Lebanon has been drawn into the war between Israel, the US and Iran after Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, fired missiles into Israel as part of retaliatory strikes.

Israel's response was missile strikes of its own into Lebanon, followed by a ground invasion with troops.

Israeli Defence minister Israel Katz claimed the bridges they were targeting were a 'direct action against Hezbollah's use of Lebanon's state infrastructure to advance terrorist activity'.

Under a UN resolution which ended a war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006, armed groups are banned from operating south of the Litani river, though Israel claims Hezbollah continues to be a presence there.

Missile strikes also hit the Lebanese town of Zefta on the south side of the river, people there said: "There's no one here related to a political party. We are all civilians, not affiliated with anyone."

The BBC has also reported that since Lebanon became involved in the war on 2 March, hundreds of people have been killed in the country and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes.

The Lebanese government has condemned Hezbollah and said the attacks on Israel were launched without the state's authority.