Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

ISLB240924m

Incident date

September 24, 2024

Location

رشاف, Rshaf, Nabatieh Governorate, Lebanon

Geolocation

33.143125, 35.362604 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

On Monday, September 24, 2024, at least one civilian was killed alongside two militants and another man with ‘contested’ civilian status in an alleged Israeli airstrike on Rshaf in Nabatieh Governorate in Lebanon.

On Facebook, users expressed their grief and shared images of the victims. Aboamir Atwi and the account associated with Shabab Al Sahel F.C. reported that Ahmed Youssef Abdullah from Bint Jbeil, “father of Captain Zuhair Abdullah,” was among those killed in the strike. As the football club is one of the accounts that shared the image of Youssef and referred to him being the father of Captain Zuhair, it seems that his son may be the captain of a football team. “Captain” in this context was written as a transliteration, “كابتان”, and the Arabic word commonly used to refer to a captain in a militant sense, “القيادي” was not used. Aboamir and other social media users shared an image of the late Ahmed, an elderly man with a beard, dressed in a white shirt.

Facebook user Muhammad Asili also identified Ne’ma Ahmed Abu Ali, Fadi Mahmoud Ahmed, and Ali Hussein Ahmed as killed in the attack, sharing images of the three men. Martyr photos with the Hezbollah logo were found explicitly for victims Fadi and Ne’ma, and as such, both men have been recorded as militants.

Images depicting Ali Hussein showed Ali alongside Fadi and Ne’ma with each man superimposed against a yellow backdrop, reminiscent of similar Hezbollah photographs that are often shared after a militant has been killed. Naji Ousaily also shared a photo collage of the three men calling all three “martyred mujahid”. As this term and these associations do not necessarily mean there is a connection with a militant group (especially considering Ali was not pictured with the Hezbollah logo unlike Fadi and Ne’ma), Airwars has accounted for ambiguity in Ali’s status, grading him as ‘contested’ and counting him in the upper range of civilian deaths only.

According to Hussein Mortada, the strikes not only affected Rashaf but also areas of Bint Jabil, Ainatha, Beit Yahoun, Konin, Altairi, Yatar, Gebsheet, Ulama Al-Shaab, Northern Tower, Al-Housh, Kfarkla, Kfarfila, Ain Qanaa, and Shukra.

Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the attack to Israeli forces.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Ahmed Youssef Abdullah أحمد يوسف عبد الله
Adult male killed
Ali Hussein Ahmed علي حسين أحمد
Age unknown killed

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Rshaf (رشاف), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.143125, 35.362604. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 2
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Belligerents reported killed
    2–3

Sources (13) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (10) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Bintjbeil
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @zezebaydoun
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AlArabiya.Lebanon
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: bintjbeil.org
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Mahdi Najah
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Aboamir.atwi
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Mohammed Asili
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Mohammed Asili
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Arabieh.sawli
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: naji.ousaily

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 2
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Belligerents reported killed
    2–3

Sources (13) [ collapse]