Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has acknowledged that five of its troops were killed while fighting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Four of the slain troops were reservists serving with the Carmeli Brigade’s 222nd Battalion. According to an initial IDF probe, the troops were killed when several Hezbollah fighters emerged from a tunnel and hurled grenades at them on October 23.
At least six other troops from the same unit were wounded in the attack. The IDF said that three were listed in serious condition.
The IDF also said that on October 24 a soldier from its dedicated canine special force, known as the Oketz Unit, was killed by Hezbollah fire. A reservist with the 55th Paratroopers Brigade’s 7155th Battalion was seriously wounded in the same attack.
In separate incidents on the same day, an officer with the 7th Armored Brigade’s 75th Battalion was seriously wounded in an anti-tank guided missile attack and an officer with 226th Paratroopers Brigade’s 6226th Battalion was seriously wounded by shrapnel, according to the IDF.
Hezbollah announced 34 operations on October 23, and 27 operations on October 24. The operations varied from rocket and drone attacks to strikes on tanks and air defense engagements.
In an apparent response to its losses, the IDF escalated strikes on Lebanon in recent days, mainly targeting the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut, the South governorate and the Beqaa Valley region.
The Lebanese military said on October 24 that three of its troops, including an officer, were killed as they were evacuating wounded people on the outskirts of the town of Yater in southern Lebanon.
And on October 25, Israeli strikes hit a hotel and several nearby buildings where journalists were based in the town of Hasbaiyya in southern Lebanon. The strikes killed a cameraman and an engineer of the Al-Mayadeen TV and a cameraman of the Al-Manar TV.
The clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border first broke out after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, with Hezbollah launching attacks in support of the Palestinian enclave. Israel escalated its attacks on Lebanon starting from September 17 and on September 27 it assassinated the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nassrallah.
The IDF officially announced the launch of a limited ground operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on September 30.
The confrontation has so far resulted in 29 civilian deaths in Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights as well as the deaths of at least 50 soldiers and security officers. On the Lebanese side, more than 2,574 people have been killed, including more than 500 members of Hezbollah.
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