MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Russia lodged a protest with Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Oded Yosef over an Israeli Air Force bomb that fell dangerously close to an RT television crew filming in southern Lebanon on Thursday, injuring a reporter and his cameraman, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It noted that on March 20, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Borisenko received the Israeli ambassador.

"During the conversation, the parties focused primarily on the ongoing tense military and political situation in the Middle East," the Foreign Ministry said. "The Russian side has lodged a protest over the shelling of RT TV crew members, who were injured in a missile strike by the Israeli Air Force in southern Lebanon. Russia stressed the need for a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the incident and for preventing such incidents in the future," it added.

RT previously reported that the channel’s Lebanon bureau chief, Steve Sweeney, and a cameraman were injured in southern Lebanon. After receiving medical treatment, Sweeney returned on air and reported that an Israeli fighter jet had carried out a targeted, high-precision strike. RT journalists were filming a report at the time on Israeli attacks on bridges connecting southern Lebanon with the rest of the country.

The Israeli military, for its part, explained its decision to strike bridges across the Litani River in southern Lebanon by saying it was a military necessity. According to Israel, these crossings are used by combat units of the Shiite group Hezbollah to move weapons closer to the Israeli border.