Press Release
A Brutal War Claims Innocent Children as Victims
(Translated)

News continues to pour in daily about the deaths of numerous unarmed civilians, particularly women and children, in southern Lebanon as a result of the relentless Jewish attacks that have been ongoing for days. The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that the death toll from the aggression has risen to 294, with 1,023 wounded. On Thursday evening, the Ministry reported the deaths of four people, including a five-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy, in an airstrike that targeted a house in the town of Machghara in the Western Bekaa Valley. Two people were also killed in an airstrike on the town of Labaya in the Western Bekaa Valley, which also wounded three others, including two girls in critical condition. A family consisting of—a man, his wife, and their two children—were killed when ‘Israeli’ warplanes targeted their home in the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiya in the Nabatieh Governorate of southern Lebanon. Another family consisting of—parents and four children—was also targeted in the Bint Jbeil area.

The targeting of civilians, especially women and children, in this brutal war is blatantly obvious. They are killing innocent people in their homes, even in their bedrooms. These missiles and drones, which roam freely in Muslim lands, make no distinction between people, stones, or trees, crushing everyone without mercy. Innocent children have had their innocence stolen, tender bodies torn to pieces, and entire families wiped out. This is in addition to the tens of thousands who have been displaced; according to Lebanese authorities, this war has resulted in the displacement of more than 83,000 people.

Southern Lebanon is facing a military escalation that has intensified amid the repercussions of the US-Jewish entity war on Iran. Right-wing circles within the Jewish entity have been calling for the occupation of the area south of the Litani River and the establishment of a security zone there in recent months. All of this, and more, is happening amidst international complicity and the failure of the rulers of the Muslims. Those who remained deaf to the cries of thousands of Gazan children for years will not hear the screams of dozens more. Those who were unmoved by the horrific scenes of massacres, killing, and destruction will not be stirred by breaking news of a drone strike targeting an entire family as they slept in their home!

The rulers' abandonment is well-known, and their subservience to the colonial West, inherited from generation to generation, is the sole reason for the continued existence of the Jewish entity to this day. Do they not fear that these children will be their adversaries before Allah on the Day of Judgment? Do they not feel shame before Allah in this holy month?

O Muslims of Lebanon: The oppressor's reign has been long, and injustice has become rampant in your land. You have suffered and continue to suffer from strife, as if you were a ball tossed about by the great powers, who are fighting over you and dragging you into wars you cannot win. Do not accept the implementation of unjust political schemes against you at the cost of the blood and remains of your children. Do not be deceived by the conferences being held or the proposed solutions. If the West truly wished you well, it would cease its meddling and that of its allies in your country and the Muslim world in general. It is using you as firewood to ignite the region and to impose normalization and peace agreements with this usurping entity. So do not be among those who sold their Deen for the worldly gains of rulers, their supporters, and their masters, and thus suffered a great loss.

O Armies: How long will this silence and submission last?! How long will you remain subservient to the enemy and its allies?! How long will the pure blood continue to be spilled on the land of the Muslims?! How long will this humiliation and degradation persist, or have you grown accustomed to them?!

Your duty is to defend your Ummah, and your role is to extend a helping hand to those who seek to implement Allah's law and re-establish the Khilafah (Caliphate), which will avenge the blood and the violation of honour, liberate the lands, and protect the people. Allah (swt) says:

[وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ مِّلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمينَ مِن قَبْلُ وَفِي هَذَا لِيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ شَهِيداً عَلَيْكُمْ وَتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاء عَلَى النَّاسِ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِاللَّهِ هُوَ مَوْلَاكُمْ فَنِعْمَ الْمَوْلَى وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ]

“Strive for ˹the cause of˺ Allah in the way He deserves, for ˹it is˺ He ˹Who˺ has chosen you, and laid upon you no hardship in the religion—the way of your forefather Abraham. ˹It is Allah˺ Who named you ‘the ones who submit’1 ˹in the˺ earlier ˹Scriptures˺ and in this ˹Quran˺, so that the Messenger may be a witness over you, and that you may be witnesses over humanity. So establish prayer, pay alms-tax, and hold fast to Allah. He ˹alone˺ is your Guardian. What an excellent Guardian, and what an excellent Helper!” [Al-Hajj: 78].

Women’s Section
in The Central Media Office
of Hizb ut Tahrir