DEARBORN — The Lebanese community in Dearborn was struck with grief after three children from the Charara family, along with their father, were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted them as they were visiting relatives in the southern Lebanese city of Bint Jebail on Sunday, September 21.

Family members received condolences at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center on Monday and Tuesday, followed by a memorial at the Islamic Center of America on Thursday. A one-week commemoration service will take place this Sunday at the Islamic Center of America.

Nidal Charara, 50, a Dearborn resident and brother of Shadi Charara, 45, told The Arab American News that an Israeli drone targeted a civilian vehicle on the outskirts of Bint Jbeil, killing his brother, along with his 8-year-old niece, Celine, and his 18-month-old twin nephews, Hadi and Silan. Charara’s eldest niece, Asil, 12, was critically wounded and remains hospitalized with her injured mother, Amina Bazzi.

Shadi Charara, a car dealer, was killed while driving home to the southern seaside city of Tyre on Sunday with his wife and four children after having lunch at his father-in-law’s house in the town of Bint Jbeil, a few kilometers from the border with Israel.

Sam Bazzi, the children’s maternal grandfather, told the Associated Press the family thought they were safe because they had no affiliation with any political party in Lebanon.

The family was only a few hundred meters from Bazzi’s house when a motorcycle passed by, and at the same moment, the Israeli drone struck. In addition to the members of the Charara family, the drove also killed the motorcyclist, a local man named Mohammed Majed Mroue.

Bazzi, her face bruised and swollen, was carried on a stretcher through the crowd at the funeral of her husband and children.

Family members told the The Arab American News that Shadi Charara did not have U.S. citizenship but that his siblings and father live in the United States and are citizens. They said he had applied to join them and recently received approval but was still waiting for visas.

The Israeli occupation army acknowledged in a statement that it had “killed civilians during the strike that targeted Hezbollah members.” Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed “shock and outrage” on its official X account over the deaths of three children from the same family, calling such attacks on children “intolerable.”

In the Detroit area, the tragedy sparked deep sorrow and anger among the large local Lebanese community, many of whom trace their roots to Bint Jebail.

Charara explained that he has lived in Dearborn for 35 years, where his brother Hilal and two sisters also reside. Shadi, he noted, had been in the process of finalizing an immigration application to the United States to join their father and siblings.

“The request was submitted nine years ago, and my brother had finally received a notice from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to complete some additional paperwork,” he said. “But fate did not give them the chance.”

He also denied reports circulated in some media outlets that the family held American citizenship.

According to Charara, his brother had previously lived for a period in Dearborn before returning to Lebanon, where he married and started a family. He later settled in Tyre, where he owned a car dealership.

Charara condemned the ongoing Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanese towns and villages, despite the existing ceasefire agreement between Israel and  Lebanon. He called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop targeting innocent civilians under false pretexts.

“Dozens of civilians have been killed in recent months as a result of these Israeli military operations,” he said.