By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Worthy News) – Lebanon-based Hezbollah, condemned as a terrorist organization by Israel, has claimed responsibility for killing an Israeli reservist soldier and injuring two others, one seriously.
An explosive-laden drone launched from Lebanon impacted near the northern Israeli community of Margaliot, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The Iron Dome defense system intercepted a second drone, the IDF added.
The slain soldier was identified on Saturday evening as Warrant Officer (res.) Yehezkel Azaria, 53, of the 8th Armored Brigade’s 129th Battalion, from Petah Tikva. The wounded soldiers were of the Alexandroni Brigade’s 6609th Reconnaissance Battalion, Israeli media reported.
The cross-border violence came hours after Israel warned it would push away Hezbollah from the Lebanese border if the international community could not do so through diplomatic means.
War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz, speaking during a visit to the city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha in Northern Israel’s Upper Galilee region, said he invited top Western diplomats to visit the area and see the threat posed by Hezbollah. “If the world doesn’t get Hezbollah away from the border, Israel will do it,” he warned.
“In response to Hezbollah’s aggression, the IDF strikes the terrorist organization’s military infrastructure and works to eliminate any threat to the State of Israel,” added IDF spokesperson Nir Dinar. “Any harm to civilians and other forces is unintentional. Such incidents are reviewed to improve operational precautions and to ensure accountability when necessary,” Dinar said.
Yet Israeli officials have reportedly been rebuked by the United States over these plans as Washington worries about Israel striking regular Lebanese Armed Forces positions.
US CRITICAL
“The United States has been clear, we do not want to see this conflict spread to Lebanon. And we continue to urge the Israelis to do all they can to be targeted and avoid civilians, civilian infrastructure, civilian farmland, the U.N., and the Lebanese Armed Forces,” the US National Security Council said.
The announcement came as a Hezbollah fighter was reportedly killed on Saturday during confrontations with the Israeli army in Lebanon’s border areas.
China’s news agency Xinhua quoted Hezbollah as saying that the group “mourned” one of its members without providing further details.
The militant group confirmed that its fighters attacked several Israeli targets on Saturday, resulting in casualties.
Xinhua quoted a Lebanese military source as saying that the Israeli forces on Saturday carried out a “series of air and artillery attacks” on border villages in southern Lebanon, “destroying” four houses and damaging 25.
Hezbollah reportedly carried more than 500 military attacks against nearly 60 Israeli positions and gatherings along the Lebanon-Israel borders since the October 7 massacres of about 1,200 people by Hamas in Israel.
The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have reportedly killed 155 people on the Lebanese side, including several journalists, security sources say.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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