Geolocation
Airwars assessment
At least one militant and thirteen civilians, including four women, one of whom was pregnant, and seven children were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the town of Al-Khader located in the Baalbek region of the Beqaa governorate in eastern Lebanon shortly before 4 PM of Monday, September 23, 2024. Five civilians were also reportedly injured.
At 15:54 on September 23, Twitter/X Wissam Hajjar (@whajjar) reported about the raid on the town of Al-Khader with the mark “urgent”. At 16:25, the Telegram channel Lebanon News reported that one civilian was killed and five wounded in a raid on Al-Khader. At 17:41, the same source wrote about eight casualties, all of them children and women, referring to an Al-Mayadeen correspondent. This information was corroborated by the Al-Quds channel and Sada Palestine news, while the website Lebanon24.com later provided the names of the eight victims.
On September 24, Facebook user Houssein Awdi posted a video from Khader showing the residential buildings damaged by the attack and piles of rubble. He also shared the names of fourteen victims. Other sources indicated that one of those listed was a Hezbollah militant.
According to this list, a young woman Ghadeer Ali Hamza was killed along with her fiancé Ali Mohsen Suwaiden. One of the sources, the Facebook account “Zuzu”, shared an image of Ali in a military uniform with a logo of Hezbollah at the bottom of the picture. Ali has not been counted among the civilian casualties in Airwars’ assessment and has been accounted for as a militant.
Asmaa Ahmed Ayoub was reportedly killed alongside her daughter Zainab Hussein Odeh. Asmaa was also described as having been killed with her “fetus” by Facebook user Tahreer audi, which indicates that she was likely pregnant at the time of the strike.
Muhammad Hussein Odeh was alleged killed along with his two daughters, Fatima Muhammad Odeh and Batoul Muhammad Odeh. Among the victims were also two siblings, both children – Talin Hassan Hamza and Baneen Hassan Hamza.
The list also contained the names of two children, Hadi Samer Hamza and Malak Hussein Al-Saheli, and three women, Fatima Hussein Odeh, Fawzia Ahmed Odeh, and Hawraa Mahdi Hamza who were also killed in the airstrike.
“Al-Лhodor Village” Facebook account posted a collage with the pictures of the victims featuring six girls and one boy, three young women, one elderly woman, and one man, apparently Muhammad Hussein Odeh – a bald man wearing glasses. The post wished “a speedy recovery to our wounded, and patience and steadfastness to our hearts.”
Talia Hamzeh, a cousin of the late Ghadeer Ali Hamza, mourned the death of the young woman, writing “May God be with you, Ghadeer Bakir, my love” and adding a headshot of a young woman with green eyes wearing a black headscarf.
Munar Ali Shakr also grieved the death of Ghadeer, writing an emotional testimony about the lost friend: “I mourn myself, I mourn my lifelong companion, the companion of days, the smile that brought us together, the warm embrace, and the heart that fears for me. I mourn my shadow that I always take refuge in, I mourn the pure heart, the kind soul, and I mourn my heart! My heart..💔 My beloved, my companion and my relative. Ghadeer, who never leaves us and shares every detail of her life with us. Ghadeer, who was talking to me until the last moment💔 Ghadeer, who will testify before us💔”
Facebook user Ghada Suwaidan shared a video featuring Ghadeer together with her fiance Ali Suwaiden, while Fatmeh Ali Al-Mihdi shared an image of Ghadeer with Ali where she was holding a bouquet of red roses.
Zainab’s aunt Sakina Awda shared an image of Zainab, a small girl in a pink shirt and a white rock, lamenting over her death: “Good morning, our butterfly..💔 How are you in your new home?!💔 Hearts and places will miss you, Zainab!💔 God bless you, your aunt’s heart.”
A Facebook user “Pearls” also mourned the death of Zainab: “Zeinab, what is the taste of the world without you, I wish my life would go and leave you, you are the heartbeat of my soul, don’t go, I can’t live without you.”
“The East Strip” Facebook account posted an image of Malak Hussein Al-Saheli, a young girl with dark eyes, and dark hair, wearing a hoodie with a print and a jeans jacket.
An image with the list of fatalities was posted by Muntather on Facebook alongside a Hezbollah party logo. 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. With this context in mind, and given that there is no indication of militant activities, Airwars has not taken this to mean that those killed were militants. This assessment will be updated should further information come to light.
Shehab Agency and Twitter/X user @raedAlyamani wrote about raids on the towns of Al-Khader and Brital in the Bekaa Governorate and shared an image where a thick cloud of smoke can be seen rising over a town while mountains can be seen in the background. Twitter/X user @HamzeMayssae posted another photo showing the smoke from the explosion from another angle.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli military.
The incident occured at approximately 4:00 pm local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (13)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Khodor (خضر), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.903874, 36.120976. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (69) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (33) [ collapse]
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Source: Maher houssein hamza -
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Source: Hala moussa -
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Source: Hawraa fares -
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Source: Ghadeer ismail -
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Source: Saso kak -
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Source: Bachar turk -
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Source: @raedAlyamani -
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Source: @ShehabAgency -
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Source: @KawalisBeirut -
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Source: @lebanosnews -
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Source: @AhmadElHajj007 -
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Source: @_Jala__ -
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Source: @albahaasite -
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Source: Talia hamzeh -
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Source: @HamzeMayssae -
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Source: Ecole saint roch hauch hala -
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Source: Muntather -
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Source: Hawraa -
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Source: Hanan hamzi -
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Source: Sakina awda -
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Source: Fatmeh ali al-mihdi -
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Source: Ghafar an -
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Source: Zuzu -
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Source: The east strip -
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Source: Pearls -
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Source: Al-khodor village -
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