Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On Monday, September 23, 2024, at least three civilians, including a woman, and at least four militants were reportedly killed following an alleged Israeli airstrike in the town of Siddiqin, southern Lebanon.
Several sources, including Twitter/X users @Alarabiyaleb and @Alhadath, reported that the strike specifically “targeted” Sheikh Abdel Moneim Muhanna and hit his home in Siddiqin. According to Twitter/X users @Alhadath_Brk, Sheik Muhanna was “a leader of Hezbollah,” while @lebanondebate and @cgtnarabic referred to him as a “Hezbollah religious leader.” Many people mourned the loss of Sheikh Abdel Moneim Muhanna, sharing a picture of the elderly man with a white beard wearing a white shirt and turban. Twitter/X user @s20h20sh shared that he was a scholar, professor, and “the director of the seminary of Siddiqin.”
While Hezbollah operates an active militant wing, its political presence is also deeply enmeshed within the state. Leadership of Hezbollah’s militant wing has also typically been led by religious clerics. However religious activities are not generally considered militant in nature, unless there is further evidence of involvement in Hezbollah’s militant wing. Reference to individuals as clerics is therefore not deemed by Airwars sufficient to tie such persons to militant groups, without further corroborating evidence. In this case, given that there is no further indication of militant activities Sheikh Abdel Moneim Muhanna has been counted as a civilian. Airwars will update the incident should new information become available.
Ibcgroup.tv also reported that a second house next to Sheikh Muhanna’s house was hit during the attack.
Several sources, including Twitter/X user @sdynt_313, shared that Sheikh Abdel Moneim Muhanna was killed in the strike, with @s20h20sh additionally reporting the deaths of several family members. Facebook users, including Nadia Bakri and “Sadiqqine gathers us,” shared a list of the casualties named next to Sheikh Muhanna: his wife Hajja Zainab Hijazi, Muhammad Adnan Belhas, Muhammad Amin Saleh Belhas and Ali Hassan Shabib Belhas. Another user, Abu Hadi, also listed Daniel David Belhas among the deceased, while Mahmoud Ali Al-Homsi mentioned an additional casualty, Ali Haider.
Four men from this list, Muhammad Adnan Belhas, Muhammad Amin Saleh Belhas, Daniel David Belhas, and Ali Hassan Shabib Belhas, – were commemorated with a special photo collage shared widely on social media with a background featuring a Hezbollah logo along with an image of each man wearing Hezbollah scarves and military uniforms. Based on this depiction, Airwars considers all four men as having militant status and are therefore not counted among the civilian casualties.
Reports on the number of casualties varied across sources. While most sources mentioned individual victims without specifying total numbers, Nadia Bakri and “Sadiqqine gathers us” listed five casualties, while Abu Hadi reported six, and Mahmoud Ali-Al-Homsi indicated seven. No source provided information on any injuries.
A video widely circulated on social media shows the aftermath of the alleged airstrike, filmed from a car. The video captures debris scattered across a street and at least one house completely destroyed, though it is unclear which specific houses are depicted.
Few sources provide details on the form of attack. Some, including Twitter/X user @cgtnarabic and @lebanondebate, reported about an “Israeli raid.”
Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the attack to the Israeli military.
All sources that mentioned a location confirmed the incident occurred in the town of Siddiqin in southern Lebanon. Several sources, including Twitter/X user @Alhadath_Leb, further specified that the attack occurred at Sheikh’s house in Siddiqin.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Siddiqin (صدّيقين), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.189491, 35.306012. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (27) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (18) [ collapse]
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