On the night of Friday, September 27, 2024, an alleged Israeli strike killed at least eight people and injured at least five others, including two children, in Baadran, in Lebanon’s Chouf district. The strike allegedly levelled two houses, one of which was reportedly owned by former Hezbollah MP, Nawar al-Sahili.

The Facebook page Lebanos initially reported the deaths of two people and four injuries, posting a video of someone inspecting the rubble, flashlight in hand, at what appeared to be the site of the alleged airstrike. The structure seemed to be completely destroyed. The same source shared another video in which the extent of the damage is even more apparent. A body, covered with a white sheet, can be seen lying on the ground. The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health later announced the “martyrdom” of four people and a total of 17 injuries.

Through multiple social media posts, listing the names of the victims, Airwars was able to identify at least eight fatalities: Mohammad Taj al-Din, Jihad Baz, Adel Shadbek, Mohammad al-Qasir, Shadi al-Qasir, Hassan Ismail, Fatima Ezz al-Din and Hussein Ezz al-Din. Airwars also identified five people who were injured: Thaer Baz, born in 1958, Imad Shadbek, born in 1966, Asmahan al-Husseini, born in 1972; as well as children Anwar Qasir and Ahmad Ismail. According to some of these posts, Anwar Qasir and Ahman Ismail were born in 2010 and 2023, respectively.

Photos of a smoke cloud rising into the night sky widely circulated online. One image, taken at the site of the alleged strike, shows three people standing beside the rubble – a fragment of wall still standing – with what appears to be fire burning in the background.

Mourning messages were also shared across social media. The Facebook page of the Progressive Socialist Party posted a photo from the funeral of “martyrs” Muhammad Taj al-Din, Adel Shazbek, and Jihad Baz. The image shows their coffins – draped in the Lebanese flag and the party’s emblem – being carried in a procession attended by dozens of mourners. “The sheikhs and people of the town of Baadran and the villages of the Chouf bid farewell to the martyrs of the Israeli aggression,” the post read.

Facebook user Alaa K Jordi also expressed his grief for Muhammad Taj al-Din, Jihad Baz, and Adel Shazbek, sharing portraits of the three victims, older men all dressed in suits. “The blood of the people of the mountain and the blood of the people of the south mixed in the heart of the Chouf, which embraces everyone and is present in the cause, to write a common history of heroism and victory,” lamented Sultan Kheir, before listing the names of the eight fatalities. “May God have mercy on them,” he concluded.

Where sources identified a belligerent, all pointed to the Israeli military.