Two Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon on Sunday, the Israeli military announced, marking the first fatalities since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah resumed last week. One of the deceased was identified as Master Sergeant Maher Khatar, aged 38, from Majdal Shams, with the military confirming a second soldier died in the same incident.
The deaths occurred as Israel widened its military campaign in Lebanon, striking for the first time into the heart of Beirut—a significant escalation in a conflict that has resulted in 394 deaths in Lebanon over the past week, including 83 children, 42 women, and nine rescue workers, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Early on Sunday, an Israeli drone struck a hotel room in Raouche, a seafront neighborhood of the Lebanese capital popular with tourists and, more recently, with thousands of displaced Lebanese who had fled fighting elsewhere. Lebanese health officials reported at least four people killed and ten wounded in the attack.
Israel claimed the attack targeted senior commanders of Iran’s elite Quds Force, the overseas operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, alleging they were operating to advance terror attacks against the state of Israel. Raouche had been spared during Israel and Hezbollah’s last war, which ended with a ceasefire in November 2024, although Israel had engaged in near-daily violations of the agreement.
Lebanon was pulled back into war on Monday when Hezbollah fired rockets and drones into Israel in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in joint Israeli-United States air strikes last month. Israel responded with a ferocious air assault across southern, eastern, and Beirut’s southern suburbs, while ground forces have been pushing into southern Lebanon, seizing hilltops near the border.
Tanks and armored bulldozers have been massing at the frontier, fueling fears of a full-scale Israeli invasion. Hezbollah has continued launching rockets and drones into northern Israel daily, stating its forces were involved in clashes with Israeli troops near the border town of Aitaroun on Sunday.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said, “Our country has been drawn into a devastating war that we did not seek and did not choose,” warning that the scale of displacement could produce “unprecedented” humanitarian and political consequences. Israel claimed it has killed about 200 Hezbollah fighters since hostilities resumed, though the armed group has not published its own toll.
Source: www.aljazeera.com