The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has confirmed that four of its soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces are engaged in heavy clashes with Hezbollah fighters following the launch of a ground offensive.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the IDF identified three soldiers from the same battalion as having “fallen during combat.” A separate announcement confirmed the death of a fourth soldier in the same engagement, while two others were wounded, though their names were not released.
This latest loss brings the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since fighting escalated on March 2 — after a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran — to ten.
The conflict has inflicted severe casualties on Lebanon as well. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, more than 1,200 people have been killed in Israeli attacks, and over a million residents have been displaced.
On Tuesday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli drone strikes killed four civilians in southern Lebanon: two in a car targeted in the al-Wasita Al-Qasimiya area near Tyre, and two more in a separate strike on Derikifa.
These attacks come a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported that two peacekeepers were killed when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near the village of Bani Haiyyan. Another peacekeeper was killed on Sunday near Aadchit el-Qsair by a projectile.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to expand its ground operations in southern Lebanon, pushing deeper to establish what he describes as a “buffer zone” extending to the Litani River.
Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right ministers have called for the annexation of southern Lebanon, as the military continues to destroy bridges and homes in an effort to isolate the area from the rest of the country.
