Israeli attacks in Lebanon left two people dead, including a Lebanese soldier
A Lebanese soldier was killed in bombings in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, which the Israeli army reported in a statement on X, referring to wounded Lebanese soldiers.
In a statement, the Lebanese army stationed in the border area said that “the Israeli enemy bombed one of its military posts in the Aadaissé region,” killing “one soldier and wounding three others.” The Israeli army said it attacked a position of the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian movement Hamas, “to eliminate an immediate threat.” “The Lebanese Armed Forces were not the target of the attack,” the Israeli army wrote on X, expressing “regret over the incident.”
This is the first Lebanese soldier killed since almost daily exchanges of fire on the Israel-Hezbollah border began on October 8. This violence broke out the day after the war between Israel and Hamas began.
The powerful pro-Iranian armed movement claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a series of attacks on Israeli troops and positions in the border area. Israel bombs border areas, claiming it targets Hezbollah infrastructure. Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said Tuesday that his army will “take decisive action against anyone who harms or attempts to harm the citizens and soldiers of Israel,” and asserted that it is “taking a heavy price from Hezbollah.”
In addition, Lebanon’s National News Agency (ANI) reported on Tuesday Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes on areas near the border with Israel and reported the death of a Syrian farmer in a bomb attack on the farm where he worked.
According to a count by Agence France-Presse, border violence has left more than 110 dead in Lebanon since October 7, most of them Hezbollah fighters and more than 14 civilians, including three journalists. At least six Israeli soldiers and three civilians were killed in Israel in attacks from Lebanon, authorities said.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), stationed in the south of the country, was also hit by bomb attacks several times. Commenting on the death of the Lebanese soldier, she stressed in a statement that “the Lebanese Armed Forces did not take part in the conflict with Israel.” She deplored an “alarming increase” in violence in the sector in recent days and feared this could lead to “devastating consequences on both sides” of the border.