The car in which four of six family members were killed by an Israeli drone strike on Sept. 21, 2025, in Bint Jbeil, the capital of the district by the same name. (Photo sent to L'Orient Today by residents)
The Israeli army killed a father and three of his children as well as another man in two consecutive drone strikes on the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, capital of the Bint Jbeil district, on Sunday.
Shortly before 5 p.m., an Israeli drone fired two missiles, one hitting a moto and another hitting a car carrying a family of six. The moto driver was killed, while in the car, only the mother and one daughter survived the attack, which is one in a long string of near daily attacks since the ostensible cease-fire came into effect in November 2024.
This brings the total of people killed by Israel since the truce to around 308 people, according to numbers compiled by L'Orient Today.
The attack coincided with a visit to Lebanon by U.S. Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus, who had traveled to Naqoura, in Sour district, to attend a meeting of the cease-fire monitoring committee, a five-member body that is supposed to address cease-fire violations from either side. Ortagus had no other political meetings scheduled.
The attack also came on the same day that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose to deliver a heavy-handed speech on making peace with Israel's "neighbors to the north."
“Our victories against Hezbollah opened a window to unimaginable possibilities, that’s the possibility of peace with our neighbors to the north,” he said, addressing members of his government.
American nationality
The victims of the Bint Jbeil strike have been identified as Shadi Sobhi Sharara and three of his children, as well as Mohammad Mroueh, the moto driver. It appears the family held American nationality and the driver was a close friend of the father. The victims, originally from Bint Jbeil, lived in Sour district's Hosh region.
The president of Bint Jbeil municipal council, Mohammad Bazzi, called the attack attack a "massacre of civilians," and told L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South that the victims' bodies had been "mutilated and scattered."
Later on Sunday evening, the Israeli army announced that it "regrets the injury of civilians" resulting from the Bint Jbeil attack, which it said it had targeted a member of Hezbollah. According to the statement posted by the army's Arabic-language spokesperson, the incident is "under investigation."
From New York, where he is attending the 80th U.N. General Assembly, President Joseph Aoun condemned the tragedy, stating, “While we are in New York discussing issues of peace and human rights, Israel continues its ongoing violations of international resolutions, and in particular the cease-fire agreement.”
“From New York, we call on the international community, whose leaders are in the halls of the United Nations, to make every effort to end violations of international resolutions, especially the countries guaranteeing the Nov. 27, 2024, agreement, and to press Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory and respect said agreement."
"There can be no peace built on the blood of our children,” he said, referring to Netanyahu's comments about "making peace."
“This is a heinous crime against civilians," Prime Minister Nawaf Salma said, "and an attempt to intimidate our compatriots returning to their villages in the South. The international community must condemn Israel in the strongest possible terms for its repeated violations ... and the signatory countries of the cessation of hostilities agreement must exert maximum pressure.”
“Five martyrs, under the gaze of the committee responsible for monitoring the cease-fire," Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said, "and this, right after its meeting in Naqoura, in the presence of the U.S. envoy Ortagus.”
“The blood of these Lebanese children, their father and wounded mother, who hold American nationality, is placed before those gathered at Naqoura and before the world gathering now streaming to the United Nations headquarters,” he added.
Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah called the Israeli attack an “obvious crime against civilians, particularly children in Bint Jbeil.” He denounced the silence of the cease-fire monitoring committee, which he said had turned into a “false witness,” and maintained that such incidents prove “the protection sponsored by the international community is not a guarantee of safety in southern Lebanon.”
Interior and Municipalities Minister Ahmad Hajjar also condemned the deadly Israeli strike in Bint Jbeil. “This aggression constitutes a flagrant violation of all international and humanitarian laws and norms. May the martyrs rest in peace and our condolences go to their families,” he wrote.
Sweeps and flares
Earlier in the day, Israeli soldiers launched an incursion in Ramieh, also in Bint Jbeil district, and blew up a house in the village, according to eyewitnesses to spoke to L'Orient Today's correspondent.
Around 5 p.m., Israeli artillery fired several flares over Maroun al-Ras and Aitaroun. Around 6:30 p.m., it shelled the village of Kfar Shuba in Hasbaya district, firing from the Roueissat al-Alam post, a military position on Lebanese territory that violates the terms of the cease-fire.
Drones were flying over southern Lebanon throughout most of the day.
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