Why did Lebanon issue warrant for journalist over interview with Israeli official?

BEIRUT —  Authorities in Lebanon issued a search warrant for a prominent anchor for interviewing an Israeli official on live television. The summons comes as journalists in Lebanon are being subject to harassment and intimidation on social media amid the ongoing escalation between Hezbollah forces and the Israeli military along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Layal al-Ekhtiar, a Lebanese journalist with Al-Arabiya satellite TV channel, announced on Thursday evening that a military prosecutor had issued her an investigative search warrant after she interviewed an Israeli military official last month.

Ekhtiar said in a post to the X platform that the warrant stems from complaints filed by people she claims are supporters of Hezbollah.

“This measure amounts to pure political persecution through judicial repression. It has nothing to do with law, truth and justice,” she posted. “I will remain Lebanese and Arab until my last breath and you will never be able to touch my freedom, my dignity, and my beliefs.”