Sahmar Massacre

On September 20, 1984, Israeli forces, along with their collaborator, the South Lebanon Army led by Antoine Lahad, raided the village of Sahmur in southern Lebanon. The forces gathered the village residents in the main square to interrogate them about the death of four members of Lahad's collaborationist elements at the hands of the Lebanese national resistance near the village. Israeli soldiers and Lahad's followers then opened fire on the unarmed village residents, following the orders of the Israeli officer and Lahad himself. Thirteen martyrs and forty injured immediately fell in the village square.

Israel attempted to evade responsibility for its crime by claiming that Lahad's forces alone were responsible for the massacre, similar to its attempt in Sabra and Shatila. However, many survivors of the massacre confirmed that a significant number of those who carried it out spoke Hebrew among themselves, struggling to speak Arabic. What happened in Sahmur represents a model of the daily events witnessed in Lebanon and its south during the Israeli invasion in June 1982 and its occupation.