A drone attack launched on Sunday against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) by Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Islamic terrorist group based in southern Lebanon, killed four soldiers and wounded dozens more.
The drone hit an IDF base adjacent to Binyamina in central-northern Israel, Israel said in a statement.
“All the injured individuals have been evacuated to hospitals and their families have been notified,” the statement said. “Four IDF soldiers were killed in the incident and an additional seven were severely injured.”
The four soldiers who were killed were identified as Sergeant Omri Tamari, 19, from Mazkeret Batya; Sergeant Yosef Hieb, 19, from Tuba-Zangariyye; Sergeant Yoav Agmon, 19, from Binyamina-Giv’at Ada; and Sergeant Amitay Alon, 19, from Ramot Naftali.
Various publications pinned the number of soldiers injured at 58.
The news comes as Israel has conducted ground operations inside Lebanon for the past couple of weeks as it seeks to push Hezbollah away from Israel’s northern border, where tens of thousands of Israeli citizens have been forced to evacuate their homes due to thousands of missiles, rockets, and drones that have been fired by the terrorist group.
Israel has, in large part, dismantled the terrorist organization, effectively killing off its leaders and entire senior command; killing and maiming thousands of terrorist operatives in covert pager and walkie-talkie bombings and aerial bombings; and destroying large stockpiles of weapons that have been amassed by the group for years.
The other major news out of the region over the weekend came from the U.S., which announced that it was sending an anti-missile system to Israel to protect it from Iranian ballistic missile attacks as it prepares retaliatory strikes against the Islamic regime for a missile attack it launched against Israel at the start of the month.
“The THAAD Battery will augment Israel’s integrated air defense system,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran.”
The THAAD system uses “hit-to-kill” technology to destroy incoming missiles and is capable of engaging targets well over 100 miles away.
In the U.S. arsenal, the THAAD “covers the [U.S. ballistic missile defense] middle tier and defends a larger area than the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System,” according to congressional research documents. “It complements the Patriot, the Navy’s AEGIS Missile Defense System, and the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System.”
A THAAD battery typically consists of “95 soldiers, six truck mounted launchers, 48 interceptors (eight per launcher), one Army/Navy Transportable Radar Surveillance and Control Mode 2 (AN/TPY-2) radar, and a Tactical Fire Control/Communications component.”
The system, developed by Lockheed Martin Corporation, was designed to shoot down short-range, medium-range, and limited intermediate-range ballistic missile threats inside or outside the atmosphere during their final (terminal) phase of flight.
