Lebanese army says 1 soldier killed by Israeli strike

2026-03-17 - 12:51

Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes on Dahieh, in the southern suburbs of Beirut. (EPA Images pic) BEIRUT: The Lebanese military said on Tuesday that an Israeli strike on a car and a motorcycle in southern Lebanon killed one of its soldiers and wounded four others. Israel has stepped up strikes and deployed ground troops to its northern neighbour since March 2, when Lebanon was dragged into the wider war in the Middle East after Tehran ally Hezbollah attacked Israel with rockets in retaliation for the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. In a statement, the Lebanese army said that “as a result of an Israeli hostile raid” in the Nabatiyeh region, a soldier was injured and “died of his wounds”, while four others were wounded. An official from the military told AFP the soldiers had just finished their duties for the day. The Israeli military said in a statement that it was “aware of the claim that several soldiers of the Lebanese Armed Forces were injured as a result of an IDF strike”. “The incident is under review,” the army said, adding that Israeli forces were operating “against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and not against the Lebanese Armed Forces or Lebanese civilians”. While Lebanon’s army has tried to stay out of the war, three Lebanese soldiers were killed by Israeli shelling earlier this month during a failed Israeli commando operation in eastern Lebanon.