Hezbollah ambushed and killed on Wednesday six soldiers and wounded four from Battalion 51 of the Golani Brigade in a structure in a village in southern Lebanon where the military had just begun new operations.
The IDF is probing whether the ambushing forces came from a concealed tunnel that allowed them to avoid prior attacks by the air force and artillery, which are supposed to clear out new areas for soldiers before they enter.
The military did kill some of the Hezbollah ambushers but was unsure how many might have escaped.
Five of the slain soldiers were named by press time: Capt. Itay Marcovich, 22, from Kochav Yair; St.-Sgt. Dror Hen, 20, from Gan Haim; St.-Sgt. Nir Gofer, 20, from Dimona; St.-Sgt. Sraya Elboim, 21, from Mehola; and Sgt. Shalev Itzhak Sagron, 21, from Sderot, and Sgt. Yoav Daniel, 19, from Nahariya.
The incident occurred around 10 a.m. Wednesday, but was kept under gag order until some of the families started announcing details of those killed. This raises to 42 the number of soldiers killed in the Lebanon invasion, which began on September 30.
According to the IDF’s tally, the number of soldiers killed on or since October 7, 2023, is now nearing 800. Some 380 were killed since the start of the military’s ground operations in the Gaza Strip on October 27, 2023.
On Wednesday evening, a ramming attack took place at Deir Kadis, near Modi’in Illit. Injuries were still under gag order at press time.
Throughout the day, Hezbollah targeted large portions of the North with a mix of drone and rocket attacks. The IDF said it shot down at least three drones, with no injuries resulting from the attacks. Hezbollah targeted the Upper Galilee with rockets, including as many as around 20 rockets in one barrage. A woman was reportedly injured in Kfar Saba during a rocket siren, possibly by an accident with a motorcyclist.
Rockets at Central Israel
Later, Hezbollah fired five rockets at the Carmel and Central Israel regions. Some were shot down by the IAF, some were not. The IDF did not specify the impacts, other than to say that some penetrated air defenses.
Despite Hezbollah’s success against the IDF in some areas on Wednesday, the terrorist group still managed to fire far fewer rockets than it did earlier in the week.
Moreover, the army said it struck a large number of rocket launchers in Lebanon, including those used by Hezbollah to kill two people in Nahariya on Tuesday.
At the same time that Hezbollah maintained rocket fire and carried out ambushes, the IDF confirmed that both its 36th and 91st divisions were penetrating deeper into southern Lebanon.
Military and political sources expressed hope that expanding the ground operation would finally up pressure on Hezbollah enough to accept a ceasefire on Israel’s terms. Defense Minister Yisrael Katz on Wednesday said – for the third time in several days – that Israel will refuse a ceasefire until Hezbollah agrees both to withdraw to the Litani River and to some kind of formula for reducing its military threat.
Meanwhile, IAF fighter jets continued to strike Hezbollah targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut, after issuing an evacuation warning for six buildings in the area.
Israel said it has been carrying out strikes to reduce the transfer of weapons from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which it said spread to the town of al-Qusayr, near the Syrian-Lebanese border.
Syrian media said on Wednesday evening that air defenses intercepted “hostile” targets over the Homs countryside.
In Gaza, with Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) intelligence, the IDF targeted a Shejaia terrorist cell. Among those struck was Yasser Ghandi, identified as one of the attackers who breached Israeli territory and participated in the October 7, 2023 massacre.
From Tuesday to Wednesday, the IAF hit over 120 Hamas and Hezbollah sites in Gaza and Lebanon, the military said.
Although the IDF did not specify, generally, far more attacks are going on in Lebanon in this period, with Gaza being much quieter other than the occasional flare-up, such as in Jabalya on and off for the last five weeks.
Reuters contributed to this report.