On September 27th, 2024, at around 6 PM local time, the Israeli military conducted a strike targeting and killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in southern Beirut, allegedly also killing at least five civilians. Official estimates put the injury toll at 108, though this figure did not distinguish between militants and combatants. Seven other individuals, six of whom were likely militants, were also killed.

On September 27th, 2024, at 6:37 local time, the head of the Arab media division of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson’s Unit, Avichay Adraee, posted to Twitter/X that “The IDF attacked a short while ago the central command headquarters of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, located under residential buildings in the heart of the southern suburb of Beirut.” Posting to Telegram the following day, the IDF account shared a profile of the “former leader…of Hezbollah…Hassan Nasrallah.”

Lebanese media outlet, the Al-Manar Channel, published an article on September 27th, 2024, writing that “the Israeli enemy launched a series of airstrikes targeting a number of buildings in the Haret Hreik area in the southern suburbs of Beirut.” The article added that “Israeli aircraft executed a belt of fire in one of the streets surrounding the Al-Mahaniya Al-Amiliyya, causing massive destruction and damaging several nearby buildings. The raid levelled 6 buildings to the ground.” Consulting aerial images and on-the-ground media from the sites of the strikes on Haret Hreik, Airwars has recorded that a minimum of four residential buildings were destroyed in the strikes on Haret Hreik.

Quoting the Ministry of Public Health’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center, Al-Manar wrote that “the successive Israeli enemy raids on Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut led, according to a preliminary toll, to the martyrdom of 6 people and the injury of 91, including 14 who required hospitalization.” An article shared by BBC Verify on September 28th cited Lebanese officials who later updated the death toll saying that “11 people were killed and 108 injured” in the strikes. As is typical for reports from health ministries this toll did not distinguish between militants and combatants. Airwars has included this figure in the upper range estimate of both injured civilians and militants to account for this ambiguity.

According to an article posted to the Sadadahie news site, perhaps prior to the Al-Manar article as the preliminary numbers are lower, the Public Health Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health said that a preliminary investigation showed that the “successive Israel…raids on Haret Hreik” led to “the martyrdom of two people and the injury of seventy-six, including sixty-one minor injuries and fifteen requiring hospitalization”

Posting to Facebook, user Mophleb announced the same, adding that “The rubble removal is still ongoing at this hour.”

Sharing two videos of the rescue crews and civil services who were working to find those trapped under the rubble and transfer injured to the hospital, Al-Manar wrote that “two children were pulled out alive from under the rubble.” In one of the accompanying videos, two very small children are hurriedly carried into vehicles belonging to civil defense organisations, including the Islamic Health Authority. Reflecting this, a Telegram account, Echo of Dhahieh Page, shared an image of a member of the civil defense holding a very young girl. The accompanying caption reads “A child was pulled out alive from under the rubble in the southern suburb”.

Accompanying many of these early announcements of the strikes were images, most taken from the vantage points likely offered by balconies of neighbouring buildings, in which the dusty remnants of large multi-story housing units are seen. Flames shoot out of the rubble at various points.

At the time of writing, publicly available information regarding the identities of the civilians injured and killed in the strikes on Haret Hreik was limited. However, looking at posts shared to Facebook and Twitter/X in in the days following the strike, Airwars was able to identify the names of five civilians killed in the strikes that brought down the residential units in Haret Hreik. Each of these individuals were named by at least one source as killed on September 27th in the strikes on Haret Hreik.

Salah Nour al-Din, Wissam Zaidan, Wissam’s wife Mona Ali Shaker, Wissam and Mona’s son Mohammed Zaidan, and a woman by the name of Fadwa, were all reportedly killed.

Posting in honor of his friend, Bachir Abou Zeid shared a tribute to Salah on Facebook, writing “The one who knew Salah knows that Salah loved Lebanon as no one else ever did.” He added that Salah, who was living in London, returned to Lebanon to join “every movement”, noting that Salah had taken part in demonstrations “during the October 17 Revolution, and after the August 4 explosion.”

Ahmd Elzein also posted to Facebook referring to Salah as “Al-Hajj”, noting that Salah had resided in London with his family and children. Ahmd offered condolences to Salah’s brother Hashem Nour al-Din, the family of Al-Sada Nour al-Din, and “the general people of Kharba Salam Al-Karam in southern Lebanon.”

Wissam, Mona, and Mohammed Zaidan were remembered as a family. On September 29th, a Facebook account called “Palestinian camps” wrote that “the Palestinian young man, Wissam Zaidan, died with his wife and son, Muhammad Zaidan (21 years old), in the Haret Hreik area. After they were injured as a result of the violent raids.” The text was accompanied by an image in which Wissam is leaning towards Mona, their foreheads touching as they smile towards the camera. An image of Mohammed was also shared, showing a young man with a brown beard.

A post shared by Hana Abosalem to Facebook on September 28th also includes a photo of Wissam. Transposed on top of a photograph in which Wissam is seen in a black hoodie an forest green shirt, is text which reads “The martyr Wissam Zaidan, son of Ain al-Halwa Camp, who was martyred in an attack on the southern suburb” Facebook account “Echoes of the camps in Lebanon” posted the same photograph, but with the text “Congratulations to on your martyrdom, cousin”. It is unclear whether the individual behind the account was a cousin of Wissam’s or if the photograph was reposted from a different account.

A woman by the name of Fadwa was also reportedly killed alongside her 27-year-old grandson, Rani Munir al-Hajj. According to a post shared by Hala othman oman, Fadwa was married to Munir al-Hajj, and, according to Hala, her body was recovered, along with Rani’s, on October 2nd, 2024. According to a Facebook post shared by the user “Palestinian camps” on September 29th, 27-year-old Rani had been in the “southern suburb of Beirut” visiting his grandmother, “who live[d] in one of the buildings” that was targeted.

Rani Munir al-Hajj’s civilian status is marked as contested. At 8:15 PM local time, @ShehabAgency posted to Twitter/X, writing “#Urgent | Palestinian Rani Munir Al-Hajj from Burj Al-Barajneh camp was martyred as a result of the occupation’s aggression on the southern suburb of Beirut”. Accompanying the written announcement was a photograph of Rani, in which a young man with a brown beard is seen wearing a green shirt and smiling towards the camera. Facebook accounts Southern al-laban, Dawlt tobas, Meem Magazine, and Firas taneineh posted the same photograph, with Southern al-laban writing that Rani was “martyred as a result of the occupation’s aggression” and Dawlt tobas adding that he was the the “first person to be known as a martyr”, presumably meaning that Rani’s body was the first to be recovered in the rescue efforts, though this is contradicted by the October 2nd post from Hala in which she says that Rani and Fadwa’s bodies were recovered “today”.

On October 2nd, 2024, Facebook user Hala othman omar posted a personal tribute to Rani, writing “It is with great sadness and grief that I announce the martyrdom of Fadwa, the wife of my cousin/brother-in-law, Munir Al-Hajj, and the martyrdom of his son, the martyr Rani Munir Al-Hajj.” Hala added that the family had delayed the “announcement of the martyrdom” as there was a “delay in recovering the bodies”. She wrote that Rani’s body was recovered “today”, before closing the post with a prayer.

Abo adel and Tarshiha Social Association Official Page, posting to Facebook on October 3rd, 2024, shared matching tributes to Rani, announcing that Rani’s funeral would take place “after Friday prayers…in front of Al-Furqan Mosque.” While no sources made reference to Rani as a militant, user Abo adel’s post included a picture of Rani, dressed in a black t-shirt and black jeans, holding a gun in both hands. Although owning guns in Lebanon does not necessarily indicate affiliation to an armed group, in line with Airwars’ methodology in case of any ambiguity Rani has been included in the upper range of militants killed in this incident and excluded from the minimum civilian death toll. This will be updated should further information come to light.

Some sources also reported that Ali Ammar, a member of Parliament representing Hezbollah, was killed in the strike. However, all sources referencing the killing of Ali also refer to the death of Hashem Safi al-Din, Hassan Nasrallah’s cousin and prominent Hezbollah figure, as well as the death of Hassan Nasrallah’s daughter Zainab. Such sources include Facebook accounts “Al-shamali syrian news”, “Ramzi tounsi”, “Sameer ahmad naheeli”, “Adel harb”, and “Al-sharqiyye official”. As later reports found that Zainab was not killed and Hashem was killed on October 3rd, the veracity of Ali’s reported death is in question. As such, Ali has been included in the upper count of those civilians killed, but not the lower. This will be updated should additional information become available.

In addition to the civilians harmed in this incident, six militants were also killed. These six militants are: Hassan Nasrallah, the former Secretary General of Hezbollah; Samir Tawfiq Dib, Director of the Secretary General’s Office; Ali Karaki, the leader of Hezbollah’s southern front; Mohammed Khalil Khreis, Hassan Nasrallah’s personal nurse; Ismael Qaani, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp’s (IRGC) Al-Quds Force; and Abbas Nilforoushan, Deputy Director of the IRGC’s Al-Quds Force from 2019 through April 2024 and, more recently, the head of the IRGC’s Al-Quds force in Lebanon and Syria.

In the twenty-four hours after the strike, some sources like Facebook account “Al-shamali syrian news”, “Isam rajeh”, and “Ramzi Tounsi” wrote that Chairman of the Executive Council of the Dahiya Party and cousin of Hassan Nasrallah, Hashem Safi al-Din was also killed in the strike. However, later reporting seems to confirm that Hashem was killed in a strike on October 3rd. Airwars will assess this incident separately.

Other users also claimed that Hassan Nasrallah’s daughter, Zainab Nasrallah, was killed in the on Haret Hreik. However, later reporting, including live interviews with Zainab, show that this was not the case.

On September 28th, 2024, Twitter/X users like @OALD24 and @dyaakaddoor shared an image of a white cloth, on which the words “martyr on the path to Jerusalem” is embroidered in Arabic calligraphy, followed by “The Commander Al-Hajj Samir Tofiq Deeb, Al-Hajj Jihad” and “May Allah’s blessings be upon you, O Aba Abdillah, Al-Hussein”. Sharing the image, @OALD24 wrote “Hezbollah officially has confirmed the death of senior leader and one of its key founders, Samir Tawfiq Dib, known as Haj Jihad. He was killed alongside Hassan Nasrallah and other very important Hezbollah leaders in yesterday’s Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut.”

While Mohammed Khalil Khreis was remembered by many as Hassan Nasrallah’s personal nurse, a position that would not immediately be classified as militant in nature, posts shared by Hawraa Khreis to Facebook on October 2nd, 2024 and Twitter/X user @ayaalatat on October 30th indicate that Mohammed did have an armed role in the group. Airwars has therefore included Mohammed among the list of militants killed, rather than civilians.

In the post shared by Hawraa on October 2nd, two images of Mohammed, one in which he is seen standing in front of a tank, dressed in full military fatigues, is included alongside a photograph of him holding a young girl, perhaps a daughter, and smiling. In an image shared by @ayaalatat, Mohammed’s bust is shared on an edited image in the style of a martyr’s photograph. Including the Hezbollah logo, an inscription at the bottom of the photograph refers to Mohammed as “الشهيد السعيد المجاهد على طريق القدس” or “The martyred Mujahid on the path to Jerusalem”. The invocation of “mujahid” here, coupled with the image of Mohammed in front of the tank, have resulted in Airwars’ classification of Mohammed as a militant. This will be updated should further information become available.

While the strikes on Haret Hreik occurred on September 27th, 2024, reporting on the incident subsided in the days following. On December 20th, 2024, Facebook account “CivildefenseLB” shared a statement “issued by the General Directorate of Civil Defense at the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities”. The statement read: “based on recent information available to the General Directorate of Civil Defense about 7 people who are still missing in the Haret Hreik area, Ayoub Building, near Al-Amiliyah, as a result of the Israeli aggression on the area on September 27, the specialized search and rescue teams at the General Directorate of Civil Defense conducted a comprehensive field survey of the site, which resulted in finding the bodies of 3 martyrs who were transferred to Beirut Governmental Hospital to conduct DNA tests to verify their identities.” The post ended with the note that “The search and rubble removal operations in Khiam and Haret Hreik will continue tomorrow until all the missing persons are found.”

Later in the day, CivildefenseLB posted an update, writing “Search operations in Haret Hreik end after finding the seven missing persons”. The account specified that, after retrieving “the bodies of 4 martyrs from under the rubble in the Haret Hreik area”, as Civil Defense personnel had found “three missing persons yesterday”, all seven missing persons had been found. Accompanying the text were two images of men in yellow hard hats and brown t-shirts on which “civil defense” is written. The men are seen in pits of rubble, surrounded by concrete and metal fragments.

That same day, Facebook account bintjbeil.org also shared images of civil defense personnel supposedly working to uncover the remaining missing bodies “of 3 people in Haret Hreik”.

Users on Facebook and other platforms continued to circulate the news from the Civil Defense, with lebanonnews2 posting to Telegram on December 21st, writing, “The search operations have ended and 7 bodies have been recovered from the site of the Israeli raid on Haret Hreik, which targeted His Eminence Sayyed Nasrallah on September 27th.”

In terms of the munitions that caused the death and destruction, on the 29th of September, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) Twitter/X account, @IAFsite tweeted an aerial image of the residential block that the IAF reportedly struck. In the same post, the @IAFsite also shared an image of an aircraft mid take-off. In the image, munitions are visibly attached to the aircraft.

Experts at the Armament Research Services, partnered with Airwars for the Open Source Munitions Portal, identified the aircraft and attached munitions. In the OSMP’s assessment (entry OSMP781), the aircraft is identified as an “F-15l” of the IAF’s 69 Squadron. The three munitions attached to the F-15l are identified as “Three BLU-109 bombs fitted with JDAM kits…The BLU-109 is a 2,000-pound-class air-delivered bomb made with a thick steel body to enhance penetration of hard targets. As a result, it contains approximately 400 pounds less explosive material than the general-purpose MK 84 air-delivered bomb, despite being in the same weight class. Such bombs are often referred to as bunker busters by media organisations.”

On September 29th, Haaretz published an article stating that U.S. “Senator Mark Kelly, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Airland subcommittee, claimed Israel used a U.S.-manufactured 2,000-lb Mark 84 series bomb in the strike that killed Hassan Nasrallah — the first on-record confirmation of the kind of munition used.” The article went on to suggest that the bombs were supplied by the U.S. Citing an NBC story in which Kelly was interviewed, the article quotes the Senator, writing “We see more use of guided munitions, JDAMs, and we continue to provide those weapons”.

Posting to Telegram on September 27th, LebanonNews shared an image of the destruction. Taken from an aerial vantage, the image shows grey-scale rubble, with flash points of fire visible in the background. A red circle has been drawn around a point in the image in which a round hole is visible. LebanonNews’ accompanying caption reads “Bunker-penetrating missile entry point”.