Four Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon when a group of Hezbollah fighters ran out of a tunnel and ambushed them with grenades on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said.
Israeli troops fired on the Hezbollah militants in response but were not sure how many they hit, the military said. It said six other soldiers were wounded in the attack, with three in a serious condition.
Israeli media said the soldiers were from the Carmeli Brigade, which has been fighting as part of the IDF’s 146th Division on the western sector of the Israel-Lebanon border.
The troops, all reservists, were named as Warrant Officer Mordechai Haim Amoyal, 42, from Lod, Sgt Maj Shmuel Harari, 35, from Safed, 31-year-old Master Sgt Shlomo Aviad Nayman, from Mitzpe Yeriho, and 22-year-old Sgt First Class Shuvael Ben-Natan, from Rehalim.
The IDF said another soldier was killed and three more soldiers were wounded, including two officers, in separate incidents across southern Lebanon on Thursday.
Sgt First Class Gai Ben-Haroosh, 23, who served in a canine unit, was killed fighting Hezbollah militants, it said.
An officer from the Seventh Armoured Brigade’s 77th Battalion, was seriously hurt in an anti-tank guided missile attack, while another, from the 226th Paratroopers Brigade, was injured by shrapnel.
Another reservist, from the 55th Paratroopers Brigade, was wounded in a battle with Hezbollah fighters, the IDF said.
A total of 21 Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon since Israel began its ground operation there around three weeks ago, Israeli media said.
On Thursday, the IDF said it had seized 3,200 explosive devices and 2,500 anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades since then.
