Ali Qasim, 40, and his brother Mustafa Qasim, 43, both shepherds, were killed after returning to their house in Houla because they had failed to find suitable corrals for their livestock in the areas they had been displaced to.

A resident of Houla told Arab News that the two men did not want to sell their livestock, as their colleagues had done in Kfar Shuba, Aitaroun and Majdal Zoun.

The deaths took the total number of casualties in the recent Israeli attacks in Houla to 14.