Lebanese soldier killed in Israeli shelling, Hezbollah responds

• Israeli shelling killed a Lebanese soldier and injured three others.
• Israel expresses regret and claims the Lebanese army was not the target.
• The incident is under investigation.

In apparent reference to Israeli shelling that left a Lebanese soldier dead and three others wounded the day before, the Israeli army stated on Wednesday that it was investigating a strike that injured Lebanese forces in south Lebanon.

“The Lebanese Armed Forces were not the target of the strike. The IDF expresses regret over the incident. The incident is under review,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

Since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian organization Hamas on October 7, Israel and the heavily armed Lebanese militia Hezbollah have been exchanging gunfire across the Lebanese-Israeli border.

The soldier, a sergeant, was killed on Tuesday when Israel shelled an army position in Lebanon, according to the army.

From a “known launch area and observation point” used by Hezbollah, the Israeli army claimed that its forces had acted in “self defense to eliminate an imminent threat that had been identified from Lebanon.”

It was the first Lebanese army man killed during the hostilities, according to a statement released on Tuesday by UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. It also stated that there had not been any confrontations between the Lebanese army and Israel.

Also Read

US urges Israel to increase aid flow to Gaza amid escalating conflict

The US presses Israel for increased aid to Gaza amid intensified conflict....