Israeli strikes in Lebanon left two dead, including a Lebanese soldier
A Lebanese soldier was killed on Tuesday in bombings in southern Lebanon, which the Israeli army reported in a message on X, referring, for its part, to wounded Lebanese soldiers.
In a statement, the Lebanese army, deployed 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 claimed to have targeted a position of the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian movement Hamas, “to eliminate an imminent threat”. “The Lebanese armed forces were not the target of the strike”wrote the Israeli army on “regrets for the incident”.
This is the first Lebanese soldier killed since the start on October 8 of almost daily exchanges of fire on the border between Israel and Hezbollah. This violence broke out the day after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The powerful pro-Iranian armed movement on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a series of attacks against Israeli troops and positions in the border area. Israel bombs border areas, claiming to target Hezbollah infrastructure. Israeli Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi said Tuesday that his army “act resolutely against anyone preparing or attempting to harm the citizens and soldiers of Israel”ensuring that she “made Hezbollah pay a high price”.
Separately, the Lebanese National News Agency (ANI) reported on Tuesday Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes on areas near the border with Israel, reporting the death of a Syrian farmer during a bombing on the farm where he worked.
Since October 7, violence at the border has left more than 110 dead in Lebanon, the majority of them Hezbollah fighters and more than 14 civilians including three journalists, according to a count by Agence France-Presse. At least six Israeli soldiers and three civilians were killed in Israel in attacks originating from Lebanon, according to authorities.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed in the south of the country, was also hit several times by bombings. 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 a “alarming increase” violence in the area in recent days, fearing that it could lead to “devastating consequences on both sides” of the border.