Israel Hezbollah conflict: The Israeli military on Wednesday announced its first combat casualty since launching ground operations in Lebanon this week, as 22-year-old Eitan Itzhak Oster was killed in combat in the country. This came as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops in two places inside Lebanon near the border.
"The name of an IDF fallen soldier has been released, and the family has been informed: Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, 22 years old, from Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, team commander in the Egoz Unit, Commando Division, fell in battle in southern Lebanon," said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in a statement. The Israeli military said ground forces backed by airstrikes had killed militants in “close-range engagements” without saying where.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said in a statement that it had begun "limited, localised, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence" against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon villages close to the border. Israel's ground raids will target Hezbollah strongholds along the border that threaten Israel, not a war against the Lebanese people, it said.
Hezbollah fighters clash with Lebanese troops
Hezbollah said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces inside Lebanon on Wednesday, reporting ground clashes for the first time since Israel began pushing into its northern neighbour in a campaign to hammer the Iran-backed armed group. The Israeli military said regular infantry and armoured units were joining its ground operations in Lebanon, a day after Israel was attacked by Iran in a strike that raised fears of an all-out war.
Hezbollah said it was clashing with Israeli troops in the border town of Maroun el-Ras after it had pushed back forces near another border town. The group said it had also fired rockets at military posts inside Israel. The group's media chief Mohammad Afif said those battles were only "the first round" and that the group had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel.
The Lebanese army said in a statement that Israeli forces infiltrated 400 meters into Lebanese soil in the southern border villages of Kherbet Yaroun and Adaisseh, then retreated afterwards. A Lebanese soldier was injured in an Israeli drone strike while a unit worked to open a road at the entrance to the southern Lebanese town of Kawkaba, it said.
Israel's addition of infantry and armoured troops from the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armoured Brigade and 6th Infantry Brigade, suggests that the operation may move beyond limited commando raids. The military has said its incursion is largely aimed at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and there were no plans for a wider operation.
Iran's missile strike on Israel
Israel's missile defences were activated on Tuesday to repel a salvo of Iranian ballistic missiles in retaliation for Israel's campaign against Tehran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon. Iran used hypersonic Fattah missiles for the first time, and 90 per cent of its missiles successfully hit their targets in Israel, the Revolutionary Guards said.
No injuries were reported in Israel, but one man was killed in the occupied West Bank, authorities there said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran's missile attack on Israel failed and vowed retaliation, at the start of a security meeting in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night. "Iran made a big mistake tonight - and it will pay for it," Netanyahu said. "The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies."
An Israeli security official said that in cooperation with the United States, the Israeli Air Force intercepted many of the missiles, though there were some direct hits damaging buildings and igniting some fires. On Wednesday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) acknowledged that some of its airbases were hit in the barrage, and some office buildings and maintenance areas were damaged.
(with inputs from agencies)
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