BAALBEK, Lebanon: A family tragedy was narrowly avoided Tuesday after a rocket-propelled grenade hit the room of four children who happened to be at school in the Bekaa city of Baalbek.

The grenade penetrated the roof of Mahmoud Shemali’s house in the Solh neighborhood when armed men opened machine gun fire in the nearby Sharawneh neighborhood, after hearing news that former MP Ali Hamad Jaafar, who hails from nearby Hermel, had died.

The grenade exploded in the room of Shemali’s four children who were at school, while their mother was in a separate room and suffered no harm.

The house was severely damaged and neighborhood residents panicked, fearing that an armed clash has broken out in the city where such altercations have been a regular occurrence over the past months.

Baalbek residents decried the shooting as “immoral,” saying it confirmed that nothing prevents any person from jeopardizing the city’s security.