Israel on Wednesday lost eight of its soldiers in combat in south Lebanon as its forces thrust into its northern neighbour in a campaign against the Hezbollah armed group.
The losses were the deadliest suffered by the Israeli military on the Lebanon front in the past year of border-area clashes between Israel and its Iranian-backed Lebanese foe.
Hezbollah said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces inside Lebanon on Wednesday, reporting ground clashes for the first time since Israeli forces pushed over the border. Hezbollah said it had destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks with rockets near the border town of Maroun El Ras.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a condolence video, said: “We are at the height of a difficult war against Iran’s Axis of Evil, which wants to destroy us.
“This will not happen because we will stand together and with God’s help, we will win together,” he said.
The Israeli military said regular infantry and armoured units were joining its ground operations in Lebanon, a day after Iran fired more than 180 missiles into Israel, a barrage which raised concerns that the oil-producing Middle East could be caught up in a wider conflict.
Hezbollah said it had repelled Israeli forces near several border towns and also fired rockets at military posts inside Israel.
The paramilitary group’s media chief Mohammad Afif said those battles were only “the first round” and that Hezbollah had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel.
Israel’s addition of infantry and armoured troops from the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armoured Brigade and 6th Infantry Brigade, suggested that the operation might expand beyond limited commando raids.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi movement launched attacks against ships in the Red Sea on Tuesday, damaging two vessels.
The Panama-registered Cordelia Moon was struck by a drone boat, and sustained damage to its ballast, which controls its buoyancy. Another Liberian-registered ship was hit by a missile.
The crews of both ships were unharmed.
The Houthis have been launching attacks on ships near Yemen since November, in solidarity with the Palestinians. They have also launched attacks on Israel itself.
Also on Tuesday, the IDF said it had intercepted a drone flying over the Mediterranean Sea, after the Houthis announced they had launched drone strikes on the cities of Eilat and Tel Aviv in Israel.
And on Sunday, Israel launched massive airstrikes on the Yemeni coastal city of Hudaydah as a strike against facilities used by the Houthis.
The Houthis are part of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” against Israel, the US and the West. This is an Iran-backed network of armed groups in the Middle East that includes Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
With agency reports.
