Israel army says more troops needed on Lebanese front
The Israeli military said on Thursday it requires additional troops for deployment in southern Lebanon, where forces are engaged in fighting Hezbollah as part of efforts to establish a buffer zone.
"On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional IDF forces," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a televised briefing, noting that the military is operating simultaneously across multiple fronts, including the West Bank, Gaza and Syria.
"For that, more combat soldiers are needed in the IDF."
Israel's main opposition leader Yair Lapid accused the government Thursday of steering Israel toward a "security disaster" due to a shortage of combat soldiers.
"The IDF (army) is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded out on the battlefield," Lapid said in a televised statement, echoing a warning delivered a day earlier by military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir to the security cabinet, according to Israeli media reports.
"The government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means, and with far too few soldiers," Lapid said.
- Another soldier killed -
The Israeli army announced the death in combat on Thursday of a soldier in south Lebanon, just hours after reporting another death from its ranks.
"Sergeant Aviaad Elchanan Volansky, 21, from Jerusalem, a soldier in the 77th Battalion of the 7th Brigade, was killed in action in southern Lebanon," a military statement said.
Four Israeli soldiers have now been killed in fighting in south Lebanon since Hezbollah began launching rocket attacks against Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader.
Source: Agence France Presse
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