On Tuesday, September 24th, 2024, at least six civilians, including a civil defence member and two women, were killed in the Al-Barid neighbourhood of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Southern Lebanon, reportedly by an alleged Israeli double-tap airstrike. At least one militant was also killed in the attack.

Al-Manar TV also reported that several civil defence personnel from the Islamic Health Authority were injured in the attack, while the “Al-Risala Association for Health Aid – Nabatieh Al-Fawqa Volunteer Center” specified that the civil defence volunteers had been transporting four injuries ranging from “moderate to serious” when the second attack occurred, putting the total number of injuries at six.

A moving Facebook post from @Al Kalas mourned Qassem Ali Kallas, describing him as “part of an ambulance team working to transport civilian casualties in his hometown of Nabatieh al-Fawqa” who lost his life in the strike. Facebook user May also shared her tribute along with a photo of Qassem Kallas, describing him as “the one with the smile that never leaves his face,” expressing her sadness over the loss of her “brother” and “colleague.” Numerous other social media posts followed, sharing photos and expressing grief. A Facebook post from ‘May’ wrote that Qassem was a “colleague and brother in the Nabatieh Agriculture Department,” implying that Qassem shared his time between the department and emergency services.

The Islamic Health Authority and Al-Risala Association for Health Aid, both of which were associated with this incident, are civil defence groups that are associated with Hezbollah and AMAL respectively. While Hezbollah operates an active militant wing, their political presence is also deeply enmeshed within the state, providing social and organisational services, primarily in the Shia’a majority areas in Southern Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley, and the suburbs of Beirut. With this context in mind, and given that there are no indications of militant activities, the presence of the Islamic Health Authority cannot be used to determine if an individual or community is affiliated with Hezbollah’s armed wing, or that there was a militant presence in the area.

Further social media testimonies shared sorrow over the loss of other victims of the attack. Sada on Facebook, using information from the Al-Nabatieh Al-Fawqa News website, mourned Hassan Ali Salman al-Shaar; Fadia Ibrahim Ghandour, described as an “educator”, a “Quran and Tajweed teacher”; her son Nour Kaheel; his father “the servant of Hussein” Ali Kaheel.

Hajj Hussein Ghossein, and his wife Mona Shams al-Din were also killed. Hussein was remembered as “the resistance fighter struggling to make a living,” (“المقاوم وراء لقمة العيش”). Here, the invocation of “the fighter” or “the resister” (“المقاوم”) cannot be taken to denote militant activity. As such, Ghossein has been counted as a civilian. This will be updated should additional information become available.

A post from Fatima M. Obaid identified Hassan Ali Salman al-Shaar as a militant in the Islamic Resistance, therefore he has been counted as a militant. Multiple other sources referred to the strikes as against Hezbollah and “one of the largest weapons and missile store,” resulting in “a number of non-civilian casualties” but there was no additional information on militants killed on injured in this attack

Photos were widely shared on social media, showing the devastation. Twitter user @Bk_Hanas posted an image depicting residual smoke over Nabatieh Al-Fawqa, while others shared images of a civil defence ambulance surrounded by rubble. On Facebook, the user Nabatieh posted pictures of civil defence workers navigating the destruction left in the wake of the airstrike.

A Facebook post from Rawan Badreddin specified that the strikes were carried out against the town square and against two houses in the Al-Barid neighbourhood of Nabatieh al-Fawqa and sources noted that the homes of both families – the Al-Kahil and Ghossein families – were destroyed.

Where sources identified belligerents, all sources attributed the airstrike to the Israeli military.