Truthout - Human Rights Watch: Israel Used US Weapon in Likely War Crime in Lebanon

One strike killed 22 members of the same family, with three young boys surviving the attack.

By Sharon Zhang , Truthout
Published April 24, 2025



Israeli forces used at least one U.S.-provided weapon in a series of strikes that killed dozens of civilians in northeastern Lebanon last year, in attacks that were likely in violation of international law and should be investigated as war crimes, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.

The group investigated several Israeli strikes between September 25 and November 21, 2024 in Younine, near Baalbek in northeastern Lebanon, where Israeli forces had been carrying out numerous attacks amid its escalation against Hezbollah and Lebanon last year.

Two of these strikes killed 33 civilians, including 15 children, in total, the group found. The strikes came on residential buildings without any combatants or other military targets.

One bombing, on September 25, killed 22 members of one family, from Syria. Part of the family was leaving for Syria the next day, so the family was gathered in the building to say goodbye, according to one child survivor of the attack. Three children in the family survived the strike, which killed their parents, siblings, grandfather, and uncles, Human Rights Watch researchers found.

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