Israel says soldier killed in south Lebanon clashes, 10 wounded in Bint Jbeil
The Israeli military said Tuesday that a soldier had been killed in Lebanon, the first since a U.S.-Iran temporary truce came into force that Israel insisted does not include the country where it is fighting Hezbollah.
"Sergeant Major (Res.) Ayal Uriel Bianco, aged 30, from Katzrin, a firefighting vehicle driver in the 188th Brigade, fell during combat in southern Lebanon," the Israeli military said in a statement, later adding that overnight clashes between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah militants left 10 soldiers wounded in the strategically significant southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, which Israeli forces have encircled.
The escalation of fighting in the town comes as Israeli and Lebanese officials hold talks in Washington later on Tuesday to end the war.
According to the military, Israeli troops have now fully surrounded the town, marking a notable advance in their ongoing ground offensive in southern Lebanon.
Fighting in recent days has involved close-quarters, "face-to-face" engagements between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah fighters, the military said.
"Overnight, three IDF soldiers were severely injured, and an additional soldier was moderately injured in a close-quarters encounter" in Bint Jbeil, it said.
"In the incident, six additional soldiers were lightly injured," the military added.
On Monday, the military said its forces killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters in and around the town over the past few days.
Just five kilometers from the Israeli border, Bint Jbeil has long been both a symbolic and strategic flashpoint in confrontations between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.
It was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting during the 2006 war, when Hezbollah's resistance there became central to the group's narrative of defiance.
It was from the stadium in Bint Jbeil in 2000 that the group's former chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered his "Liberation" speech following Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
The escalation in Bint Jbeil comes as diplomatic efforts to contain the cross‑border fighting have intensified over the past few days.
Israeli and Lebanese officials are set to hold talks on Tuesday in Washington in an effort to end the war.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said ahead of the talks that his country is seeking "peace and normalization".
"Israel and Lebanon don't have any major disputes between them. The problem is Hezbollah," Saar said at a press conference.
Israeli strikes meanwhile targeted Qana, Siddiqine, Zebqine, Qabrikha, Qlayleh, Shamaa, Mahrouna, Shehabiyyeh, Kafra, Baraashit, Arnoun, al-Hosh, Derdghaya, Srifa, al-Abbasiyeh, Jwaya, Arab Salim, Nsarieh, Adloun, al-Khardali, Ayteet, Qalaway, Tebnine, al-Mansouri, Majdalzoun, Zawtar al-Sharqiya and Msayleh in south Lebanon, and Sohmor in West Bekaa, killing at least six people.
On Monday, the Israeli army said its troops had completely surrounded the key southern town of Bint Jbeil, while Hezbollah continued to claim attacks against Israeli forces there.
Hezbollah targeted Tuesday Misgav Am, Metula, Kiryat Shmona and Nahariya in north Israel, Israeli barracks in the occupied Golan Heights, and troops in al-Bayyada, Ain Ebel and al-Khiam in south Lebanon, as Israel struck Bint Jbeil amid fierce clashes with Hezbollah.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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