His children were killed in an attack in southern Lebanon

When Shaheen Jarkas fled war-torn Syria to Lebanon, he hoped that his family would be safe. Instead, his two children were killed in an attack that Israel is accused of.

» Published: July 17 2024

His children were killed in an attack in southern Lebanon
Photo: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP

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When Shaheen Jarkas fled war-torn Syria to Lebanon, he hoped his family would be safe. Instead, his two children were killed in an attack that Israel is accused of.

Like any other day... the children spent the day playing, says Jarkas, a 55-year-old farm worker who fled to the Lebanese village of Umm Toot, near the border with Israel, from Afrin in northern Syria.

He heard the sound of an air raid and rushed there, he recounts on Wednesday, a day after the attack.

In a pool of blood, he found his children, 10-year-old Jean and little brother Mohammed, seven years old.

Since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire almost daily.

Israel's military said on Tuesday that its air force had struck a Hezbollah terrorist cell in an area near Umm Toot.

But it is Shaheen Jarkas' children who are being buried the next day.

Villager Mohammed Khalil's 12-year-old son Khalil Khalil, who was playing with the Jarkas siblings, was also killed.

Like Shaheen Jarkas, he too rushed to check on the children when he heard the attack.

We found them dead, he says.

UN children's agency Unicef calls the incident "appalling".

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By TTEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for local and international readers

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