Israeli Strike Kills Three Lebanese Soldiers Near Kfar Tebnit, Beirut Military Says

An Israeli strike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon killed three Lebanese soldiers on Saturday, according to Beirut’s military, with the Lebanese army saying two officers and a soldier were killed on the road between Khardali and Nabatieh.

“High-ranking Lebanese army officers are among at least 12 people killed in Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon, days after the countries agreed to a conditional ceasefire during United States-mediated talks”

Al Jazeera

The Israeli military said the vehicle targeted was “moving suspiciously” in “an active combat zone” in an area it had ordered evacuated ahead of operations, and it insisted it “operates against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, not against the Lebanese army”.

Al Jazeera

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack as a “flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty... despite Lebanon’s efforts in the Washington negotiations to put an end to the continued Israeli aggression that goes unchecked”.

The BBC reported that the Lebanese Army identified the victims as Brig Gen Samer Sabra, Cpt Elie Khoury, and Pte Hassan Ghazal, after the IDF confirmed it attacked a vehicle carrying Lebanese soldiers near the village of Kfar Tebnit.

The BBC also said the strike happened on a road close to the village of Kfar Tebnit, around four miles north of the Litani River and close to the city of Nabatieh, where there has been intense fighting and displacement in recent months.

Lebanon’s army reacted by saying the “continued, deliberate, and repeated Israeli aggression” aims to thwart efforts toward a solution “that would restore stability, establish a comprehensive ceasefire and lead to the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories.”

In response to the attack, the Israeli military confirmed hitting a vehicle and said it was “moving suspiciously” toward soldiers near Kfar Tibnit village after receiving “concrete indications” that Hezbollah would direct fire toward Israeli soldiers from the same area.

AP News

Al Jazeera reported that Hezbollah condemned the strike as a “heinous crime” and accused the Lebanese government of exposing its country to bloodshed through its “complete surrender to the enemy’s demands in Washington”.

Al Jazeera also quoted Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam describing the attack as “a heinous crime and an attack on Lebanon and all Lebanese people,” while extending condolences to Brigadier General Wassam Sabra, Captain Elie Khoury, and soldier Hussein Ghozal.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said this was “the first time that such a high-ranking general was killed,” and he added that “there’s nothing that the government can do” in the face of repeated killings of soldiers and officers.

The attack came days after a conditional truce took effect on April 17 but “has never been fully respected,” with Hezbollah and Israel frequently exchanging accusations of truce violations while justifying their own attacks by citing alleged violations by the other side.

A further conditional truce was announced by Lebanese and Israeli envoys in Washington, requiring Hezbollah to stop firing, withdraw from near the Israeli border, and allowing Lebanon’s army to deploy to new “pilot zones” with “exclusive control,” but Hezbollah rejected it and demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

The Washington Post reported that the latest ceasefire came as Israeli troops had seized around a fifth of Lebanon and that more than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel.

BBC said Israel has been fighting Hezbollah since March, primarily in southern Lebanon, and that the IDF struck around 150 Hezbollah “infrastructure sites” in southern Lebanon over the weekend, including what it said were weapon storage sites and command centres.

In parallel to the fighting, newagebd.net reported that Lebanon launched the rehabilitation of its second airport on Saturday in Qlayaat in Akkar, with Lebanese minister of transport and public works Fayez Rasamny inaugurating it “after more than fifty years of promises, delays and waiting” while the country faced constant fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.