On Monday, September 23, 2024, an alleged Israeli airstrike on the town of Hermel in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon killed four civilians.

Those killed were named online as: Hussein Nasser al-Din, his wife, Zainab Nasser al-Din, and their two daughters, Retaj Nasser al-Din and Zahraa Nasser al-Din.

A number of different online sources posted news updates to X/Twitter, reporting that a family of four had been killed by a strike in the town of Hermel in the Bekaa Valley. None seemed to provide specific details on the nature of the strike itself beyond ascribing it to “raids” by the Israeli military. Facebook user Bahjat al-Abidi did refer to Israeli aircraft being used to carry out the attack. However, where sources attributed the raid to a belligerent, all sources identified the Israeli military.

Three local Hermel news accounts, as well as the user Mimo Nasser el-Din, made Facebook posts identifying the victims and their relation to each other, alongside family photos of Hussein, Retaj, and Zahraa – Retaj and Zahraa appeared to be young girls. The Hermel Pulse poetically described the family as “moonlit planets of Hermel.”