Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting Hezbollah terrorists on the ground in Lebanon, Israel’s military said Wednesday.
The troops died in two separate firefights in southern Lebanon — one of them an ambush near Hezbollah’s tunnels — after the Jewish state launched a limited ground invasion there this week, according to the Israel Defense Force.
The fighting comes as Israel faces threats on three major fronts, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the Jewish State was in a “tough war against Iran’s Axis of Evil.”
He has vowed to retaliate against Iran’s unprecedented ballistic missile attack on Israel on Tuesday — which saw nearly 200 advanced projectiles launched at Tel Aviv and other areas — and dozens of strikes.
Netanyahu has also promised to take out Hezbollah’s rocket-firing capabilities in southern Lebanon and to continue the fight in Gaza to take out Hamas.
“We will rescue our hostages in the south, we will return our residents in the north, we will guarantee Israel’s eternity,” he said in a statement.
The first fatality of Israel’s incursion into Lebanon was identified as Capt. Eitan Itzhak Oster — a 22-year-old commando in the elite Egoz Commando Unit who was killed after engaging in a gun battle with Hezbollah operatives.
Four others from his unit were also killed, including: Capt. Harel Etinger, 23; Sgt. First Class Noam Barzilay, 22; Sgt. First Class Or Mantzur, 21; and Sgt. First Class Nazar Itkin, 21, the Times of Israel reported.
Five soldiers were seriously wounded during that assault, the military said.
Meanwhile, Capt. Itai Ariel Giat, 23, of the Yahalom Combat Engineering Unit, as well as Staff Sgt. Almken Terefe, 21, and Staff Sgt. Ido Broyer, 21, both from the Golani Brigade’s Reconnaissance Unit, were killed in the second incident.
Earlier, The Times of London had reported that a number of Israeli troops had been killed after being ambushed close to Hezbollah tunnels near the southern Lebanese village of Odaisseh.
One survivor of that ambush told the outlet that everyone in his unit had been injured in the attack — but they had managed to withdraw.
Hezbollah, on its part, said its fighters had wounded and killed a group of Israeli soldiers after detonating an explosive device.
The losses reported Wednesday were the deadliest suffered by the Israeli military on the Lebanon front in a year of clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group.
The developments came just hours after Hezbollah had said its fighters were battling Israeli forces in the border town of Maroun el-Ras — marking the first ground clashes since Israel began pushing into its northern neighbor to hammer the Iran-backed terror group.
The group said it had also fired rockets at military posts inside Israel.
Hezbollah’s media chief Mohammad Afif said those battles were only “the first round” and that the group had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel.
During the Israeli operation, the Iran-backed terror group fired more than 240 rockets over the border, according to the Israeli military.
The Israeli military confirmed it was bolstering its presence by calling up regular infantry and armored units to join its ground operations in Lebanon — the day after Iran attacked with a barrage of ballistic missiles.
As for Israel’s retlaiation, experts and media reports point to Iran’s nuclear facilities and gas and oil rigs were all potential targets.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet called the potential attack a “once in a 50-year opportunity.”
“We need to take out Iran’s nuclear program, we need to attack Iran’s energy facilities, and we need to attack the regime itself, right away,” Bennet said in a CNN interview.
“It’s time to hit, destroy the nuclear program, and finally allow the Iranian people to rise up,” he added.
President Joe Biden, however, told reporters Wednesday that he was opposed to such a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear program – despite vowing to back Israel in the aftermath of Iran’s attack.
“We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do, but all seven of us (G7 nations) agree that they have a right to respond but they should respond proportionally,” Biden said.
Iran may also conduct assassinations on Iranian soil or attempt to take out Tehran’s air defense system, Axios reported.
As it faces renewed threats from the northern border, Israel also suffered a terror attack in Jaffa just moments before the Iranian attack, with two gunmen killing seven people and wounding 16 others.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying two of its agents, Mohammad Mesek and Ahmed Himouni, carried out the deadly shooting.
One of the victims was identified as Inbar Segev-Vigder, who died while shielding her 9-month old son.
With Post wires
