During the evening of Friday, September 27, 2024, an alleged Israeli airstrike killed a mother and her three children when the strike hit – and completely destroyed – a house in the town of Kafr Sir near the Civil Defense Center in Lebanon. Ralma Najm was killed, as was Norma al-Shami and her two children, daughter Marwa Issa and son Muhammad Sheriff Issa. Multiple members of the Lebanese Civil Defense were among the injured.

Friends of Ralma took to Facebook to express their shock, saying, “I swear the news is not true,” and shared photographs. Hiam Naser Al-Deen shared a condolence message referring to her as “my daughter’s childhood companion” and wished that “God protect” her. Others spoke to her kind nature, with one mourner writing that he had “seen nothing but good from you.”

Many photographs were shared on Facebook of Ralma, accompanied by loving captions and various pictures of her, always smiling.

Referred to frequently as the “bride of Kafarsir,” it is likely Ralma was recently married or soon to be wed. One photo compilation shared by Hiam Nasr al-Deen shows Ralma embracing a friend, a cake topped with wedding bands before her. A few posts show her posing elegantly with blue flowers while wearing a blue dress with a ring on her right hand. In Lebanon, it is typical to wear an engagement ring on the right hand, which is switched to the left once wed.

Sources were similarly grieved by the loss of Norma and her children. Remembered as a Hajja, Norma was respected for having completed the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.

A photograph was reshared by multiple people of Norma and her daughter, Marwa, smiling into the camera as they took a picture of themselves. Ralma is also featured in the photograph. Another photograph was shared of Norma, stirring a large pot with a pink bow over her headscarf.

Katia al-Shami shared a photograph of Muhammad Sheriff Iss,a who was a young boy holding a football and wearing a blue football shirt and shorts at the Sports Academy. One condolence post wrote: “With our sincere condolences and sympathy for this blessed testimony, we ask God Almighty to cover them with His mercy”.

The house was reported to be approximately 30 meters away from the headquarters of the Civil Defense in Kafr Sir in the Nabatieh District. As such, several Civil Defense members were reportedly wounded. Nadine News reported that a number of Civil Defense members were also injured as a result of the airstrike. Al Shaheen News reported that eight people were injured, six of whom are members of the Lebanese Civil Defense. This figure was corroborated by the Civil Defense. Subsequently, the Civil Defense conducted search and rescue operations and transported the wounded to the closest hospitals.