5 Israeli soldiers killed, 19 injured in fighting with Hezbollah

Five Israeli reserve soldiers were killed during fighting with Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon on Thursday night and 19 others were wounded, some of them seriously, the IDF said on Friday.

They all served with the 8th Armored Brigade’s 89th Battalion.

According to an initial IDF probe, Hezbollah operatives inside a southern Lebanese village attacked the building in which the troops were accepting logistics supplies.

A barrage of rockets was fired at the meeting point for the supply of equipment, one of which hit near the building where the soldiers were standing.

Members of the logistics convoy were also hurt.

Among the 19 injured, four soldiers were listed in serious condition.

The wounded reservists, along with another reservist who was seriously injured in fighting in south Lebanon on Friday morning, were evacuated to hospitals for treatment.

Amid the fighting in southern Lebanon, where troops have been working to push back Hezbollah forces from the border to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from northern communities, the IDF said on Friday that two Hezbollah tunnels were recently demolished by combat engineers.

The sites were located by reservists with the Carmeli Brigade.

One of the tunnels, which served as an underground command center, was located dozens of meters below a Lebanese village. The IDF said that several Hezbollah operatives were holed up in the site and were killed.

Another tunnel, found by troops close to the border, served as a weapons depot for Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, and would have been used in a planned invasion of Israel, the military said.

It added that both of the tunnels were demolished.

Separately, the military said that reservists seized dozens of Hezbollah weapons during their operation in southern Lebanon, including 11 trucks packed with anti-tank missiles, launchers, grenades, and assault rifles.

Source: The Times of Israel