Five civilians, all members of the Lebanese Zuaiter family, were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the city of Baalbek in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Monday, September 23, 2024.

The family members killed in the strike were Mohammad Sobhi Maroun Zuaiter, his wife Mona Qassem Zuaiter, and their three sons, Hadi Mohammad Zuaiter, Ramy Mohammad Zuaiter, and Ali Mohammad Zuaiter. They left behind one surviving son, Ahmed Zuaiter.

The strike was widely reported on social media and by news outlets, including Lebanon 24 who said it was “reported that an entire family [named] the Zuaiter family” was killed “as a result of the raids on Baalbek.”

Mohammad’s life story was recounted by a relative in a Facebook post to mourn his death. Toufic Zeaiter wrote that Mohammad was displaced from his village of Iyaat due to the “destitution and extreme poverty of his father,” and went on to secure work in a company that specialised in maintaining machinery tires at an airport. Mohammad “continued his work, struggling and persevering, supporting his family,” and went on to travel as a business agent for his company in Africa. As a result of his hard work, Toufic wrote that Mohammad “secured a financial future for himself and his brothers,” and went on to marry, build a house for his family, open a car accessory shop, and become a father to four sons.

At the time of Toufic’s post, two of Mohammad’s sons were reported to have been killed and one son, Ali, was missing, suggesting that it took additional time to recover his body and confirm his death. Based on Toufic’s testimony, Mohammad had one surviving son. Two social media posts referenced “the only survivor” of the attack being their son Ahmed.

Photos of the three brothers killed in the attack were shared on social media, including of the young Ali who was still a child. His older brothers were pictured smoking shisha and posing in nature.

According to his Facebook profile, Hadi was a student at the Islamic University of Lebanon and the University of L’Aquila in Italy. His photos showed him posing by the Colosseum in Rome, seated on a motorcycle, and playing the guitar.

His brother Ramy also had a Facebook profile, where the bio reads: “You wish for a star from your wishes, and your Lord wishes to give you the moon…” According to the page, Ramy studied Business at the Islamic University of Lebanon. Ramy’s page is also filled with photos of him posing in nature – in two, he is wearing hunting gear and holding a shotgun; in another, he is holding a flag of Lebanon in the water. Ramy also posted reels of himself working out which amassed thousands of views.

Islamic University of Lebanon also mourned the death of its two students, placing their pictures on its photo collage.

All five members of the family killed in the incident were buried together in Iyaat, the village Mohammad was originally from. A video shared on Facebook by Eman H. BaderDeen shared the moments the only surviving son Ahmed was bidding farewell to the bodies of his parents and brothers.

An image that was shared with faces of the five family members shown to be above the clouds attributed their death to “Israeli aggression” on their home. One image of the family was posted by Abbass zaiter with the caption “martyrs of the Islamic resistance”, though Airwars researchers have deemed this caption in the wider context of the sourcing insufficient evidence of connection to any particular militant group or activity.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli military.