At around 3 p.m. on Thursday, September 26, 2024, a declared Israeli airstrike struck a residential building four times on Hadi Nasrallah Street/Al-Qaim Street in the Al-Qaim area of Dahiyeh, southern Beirut, Lebanon. Some sources reported that the “Tasty” restaurant was located in the building that had been hit. The attack killed at least two people and injured up to 17 others. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that the strike killed Mohamed Hussein Sarour – also known as Abu Saleh – the commander of Hezbollah’s aerial unit.

The IDF announced the attack on their official X account, noting that they had “eliminated” Hezbollah’s commander in “a precise IAF strike in Beirut”. According to the statement, Sarour “led the manufacturing project of UAVs in southern Lebanon” and commanded the surface-to-air missile unit.

According to the Telegram channel LebanonNews, three people were killed in the strike, which hit the second and third floors of the building. The same source claimed that 17 people were injured. Furthermore, the Russian state-owned news agency TASS, citing Al Hadath television, stated that two other Hezbollah fighters were also killed in the air raid, and four of them were injured. Lebanon’s health ministry later put the death toll at two but did not identify the victims. Further posting at 16:45 local time, the Facebook account ‘Lebanese Civil Defense Directorate General’ reported that search and rescue operations were continuing after an attack on ‘Al-Qaim complex in Beirut’s southern suburbs at approximately 3:00 PM today’. The post went on to say that ‘the Civil Defense have rescued three injured individuals and recovered the body of one martyr’.

While Sarour has been classified as a militant, as the identities of the other victims have not been disclosed Airwars has classified them as both potential militants and civilians. This assessment will be updated if more specific information emerges.

Local sources first reported the attack on social media, sharing videos and photos that showed a cloud of smoke rising over Beirut’s densely populated urban area, along with visible damage to the targeted building. One video captures the dust-filled street moments after the strike, showing several people running towards the explosion site. Cars damaged by the debris could also be seen in one of the photos. The strike was also reported by international news outlets, including The New York Times.

According to TASS, referring to a source in the mayor’s office of Beirut’s southern municipality of Ghobeiry, an Israeli F-35 jet hit a multi-story building three times. However, watching the Israeli military’s strike footage, it appears the building was actually struck four times. “The premises on the second and third floors, where Sariyr was staying, were completely burned out, and some damage was also done to the adjacent floors,” the source said.

Additionally, @Beirut Daily News shared CCTV footage to Facebook, reportedly from an office building near the residential building which was struck. In the video, three men sit in an office or store. One man – Sheikh Reza – picks up a phone call and steps outside. Moments later, the video shakes, windows cave in, and three men take cover before calling for their friend Sheikh Reza who had stepped outside. Other users like Abu AHmed Al-Yasiri and Walid Kazem shared longer versions of the video which shows Sheikh Reza coming back into the office.

Although the Israeli military declared the strike on its official Twitter/X account, it failed to acknowledge any resulting civilian harm. Therefore, Airwars has graded the strike status of the incident as “declared” and the civilian harm status as “fair.”