On the morning of September 25, 2024, an alleged Israeli bombardment hit the town of Al-Bazouriyya in southern Lebanon, killing two children: Iman Mousa Nesser and Talia Mousa Nesser. Rokaya Zayat Mousa Nesser, mother of the two girls, was injured, as was another young girl, Mal al-Sham. At least four other civilians were also reportedly injured. Zainab Youssef Nesser (Um Hussein) was also killed in a strike on Al-Bazouriyya on the 25th and has been included in this incident.

All of the posts mentioning Mal identified her as a girl of “Syrian nationality” residing in Al-Bazouriyya. A number of posts were appeals to social media users to share the post, in an effort to try to locate her family, mentioning that Mal was undergoing surgery at the Nabatieh Governmental Hospital. Though her condition was described as “stable,” a graphic image of her treatment at the hospital was shared by a number of accounts across Facebook and X/Twitter, with some censoring her facial injury and others leaving it visible.

While members of the Mousa Nesser family who shared about the attack didn’t mention Mal by name, Twitter/X user Nabila Fadel shared a post which showed an image of the Mousa Nesser home, writing that the strike had resulted in “two child martyrs” and six wounded. As such, Mal’s injuries have been recorded as a result of this incident that killed Iman and Talia and injured Rokaya. This will be updated should additional information become available.

On September 26, Facebook user @Al Bazouriya wrote that Zainab Youssef Nasr (Um Hussein) had died, saying that she had joined “the two martyred girls after she was injured in the raid at the time.” As a result, Zainab has been included among those killed in this incident.

Twitter/X user @HUSSEIN SROUR also announced Zainab’s death, as did Facebook user Zaynab, who offered condolences to Zainab’s husband Adnan Srour, her father the late Youssef Mohammed Nesser, her mother the late Hayat Hadraj Nesser, and her sisters Zahia, Miriam, and Fatima, as well as her brothers-in-law Ali Nasrallah and Mohammed Hadraj. Both users shared images of Zainab. In the photos, Zainab wears a black chador, and in the photo shared by Zaynab, she appears leaning against someone – presumably a loved one – and smiles toward the camera. Zaynab closed her post asking “God to inspire us all with patience and solace for this great loss and to make her martyrdom an intercession for us on the Day of Judgment. The mourners, the Al-Nasr family, the Al-Surur family, the Al-Hadraj family, the Al-Nasrallah family, and all the people of the town of Al-Bazourieh and Aita.”

Facebook user Expatriates of Bazouriyeh also remembered Zainab, writing that she “remained steadfast in the South despite the dangers, fulfilling her humanitarian duty in the hospital, serving her people and her country,” suggesting that Zainab worked at a hospital.

Iman and Talia were both young girls, as shown in a number of photos uploaded by different users; some depict the two together, and others show Iman on her own. A Facebook post by Milad Sebaly expressed condolences on behalf of the sisters’ school and wrote that Talia had “insisted on accompanying Iman” to her death. According to Milad, a mother of Iman, whose words were reportedly “dripping with tears and blood”, informed the kindergarten about the death of their beautiful and brilliant third-grade student, Iman Musa Nasr. However, the mother, who was herself injured and staying at a hospital, did not know about the death of her second daughter, Talia. The author of the post mourned the deaths of two young girls:

“My beloved Iman and Talia. We will miss you among us tomorrow, when this criminal usurper is defeated, and your peers and teachers return to school. And your seats in the classroom will be empty. But they will remain immortal in our hearts.”

In a video uploaded to Facebook by users “Expatriates of Al-Bazouriyeh” and Rokaya Zayat Nesser, a young woman reads a passage written from the perspective of Julia, Iman and Talia’s sister. In the passage, Julia calls her sisters “her entire life.” In the video, the young woman who reads the passage stands in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, sharing the story of how the Mousa Nesser family home was struck and Iman and Talia’s small bodies were pulled from the rubble. In the video, the young woman says the Red Cross responded to the strike, but were unable to save the girls.

Rokaya is an active social media users, sharing videos of her daughters Iman, Talia, and Julia to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok long before Iman and Talia were tragically killed. Videos shared before the strike show the girls swimming at the beach and playing at the parks. The girls are frequently seen hugging each other, and always smiling and laughing.

Some of Rokaya’s photos and videos include imagery of the girls wearing shirts or headbands with the Imam al-Mahdi Scout logo. The Imam al-Mahdi Scouts are a Hezbollah-affiliated scouting organisation that is registered with the Lebanese Scouting Federation. 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 majority areas in Southern Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley, and the suburbs of Beirut. As such, association with the Imam al-Mahdi Scouts, as with the Islamic Health Organisation (also affiliated with Hezbollah, noted below), are not to be taken as indications that someone is affiliated with militant activity.

In videos shared after the strike, Rokaya shows the moments where members of the Islamic Health Authority – a civil defense organisation – moved girls’ small, shrouded bodies were moved from the family’s home – the site of the strike – to a visiting place and finally their burial spot. Some clips included in the videos show the girls’ tiny faces peering out from the dark green shrouds as Rokaya and other family members weep and kiss the girls.

A picture shared by PalinfoAr showed both girls at a birthday celebration. Iman is pictured standing in front of her; a cake topper appears to show she was celebrating her seventh birthday. Another photograph, shared by Facebook user Kalad, shows a celebration for Talia. A sign – “Talia is Two” – is clearly visible. The post from Kalad offered condolences to “The family of Muhammad Nasr Abu Musa,” suggesting that Muhammad was the father of the two girls and husband to Rokaya. Kalad’s post also showed an image of a badly damaged residential building and car – the same image shared by Nabila Fadel to Twitter/X.

A post shared by Ahmad Hamieh and timestamped at 8:35 a.m. showed civil defense members at what appears to be a strike site – water barrels are strewn about and a home lies in ruin, while the neighbouring buildings are pocketed with signs of a nearby strike. The video is captioned “From the strike on Al-Bazouriyya.” As the caption does not mention civilian harm, and the imagery presented does not match the imagery shared by others, including the girls’ mother Rokaya, it appears that there were multiple strikes in Al-Bazouriyya on the 25th – and perhaps not all resulted in civilian harm.

The strike occurred in the early hours, with Rokaya noting in a video that it occurred at 6 AM.

Where sources identified a belligerent, all pointed to the Israeli military.