Ambulances in front of a hospital in Saida, southern Lebanon, on September 17, 2024. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
Tuesday was the deadliest day in Lebanon since the clashes began along the Blue Line between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on Oct. 8, 2023, with 17 people killed. The simultaneous explosion of pagers used by Hezbollah in Beirut's southern suburbs, southern Lebanon and various areas of the Bekaa, heavily impacted not only the party’s fighters, with eight killed, but also four civilians, including two children. This unprecedented attack followed two strikes in southern Lebanon, on Majdel Selm and Blida, which resulted in five additional deaths.
Who were the victims killed?
According to the provisional report from the Health Ministry, statements released by Hezbollah, and information reported by our correspondent, the pager attack claimed the lives of four civilians, including two children:
The first victim was Fatima Abdallah, a 10-year-old girl from Saraain, in the Baalbeck district.
The second child killed was a young boy named Mohammad Bilal Kanj, from Ghobeiri in Beirut's southern suburbs.
The other young woman who died yesterday from her injuries was Atta Ali Mubarak al-Dirani, a nurse at Dar al-Amal Hospital in Kasarnaba (Baalbeck).
Mohammad Hassan Nour al-Dine, an employee at Rassoul al-Azzam Hospital in the southern suburbs of Beirut, also succumbed to his injuries, the hospital announced.
Eight Hezbollah members were also killed in the explosion of their pagers, according to information from our correspondent and statements released by the party:
- Hussein Mentech, born in 1994, from Kfar Sir, southern Lebanon.
- Mohammad Abbas, born in 1986, from Jiyyeh, Mount Lebanon.
- Abbas Menhem, born in 1996, from Sohmor, Bekaa.
- Mohammad Mahdi Ammar, born in 1985, from Burj al-Barajneh, southern suburbs of Beirut. He is the son of MP Ali Ammar.
- Hussein Fakih, born in 1988, from Burj Shemali, southern Lebanon.
- Hassan Yassine, born in 1986, from Majdal Selm, southern Lebanon.
- Mahdi Samhat, born in 1995, from Tiri, southern Lebanon.
- Abbas Yassine, born in 1993, from Zoqaq al-Blat, Beirut.
The funerals of Mohammad Bilal Kanj, Mohammad Nour al-Dine, Mahdi Ammar and Abbas Yassin will be organized by Hezbollah on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Strikes in southern Lebanon
In addition to the pager attack, Hezbollah reported the deaths of four more of its fighters, who were killed in Israeli air raids conducted in southern Lebanon overnight.
- Two of them, Hussein Ala'eddine and Najib Ala'eddine, were killed in a strike on Majdal Selm (Marjayoun district), their hometown.
- Two other fighters, Youssef Madi Alouh and Hassan Ahmad Mohammad, from Baalbeck and Akkar respectively, died as a result of an airstrike on Blida.
- The bombing also killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighter, 25-year-old Mohammad Abdallah Abdallah, the group announced.
