Three Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded in the fighting in southern Lebanon over the last day, the IDF said on Wednesday, as forces continued to battle Hezbollah operatives both in close-quarters combat and through airstrikes.
Two of the soldiers, an NCO and a reservist from the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, were seriously hurt on Tuesday, the military said in a statement, while the third — of the Alon Brigade’s 8207th Battalion — was seriously injured on Wednesday. All three were taken to hospitals for medical care.
During the past day of fighting in southern Lebanon, several Hezbollah gunmen were killed and weapons and rocket launchers were uncovered by ground troops, the military said in a statement.
During ground operations over the past day, Israeli troops razed the so-called Garden of Iran on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras, and raised an Israeli flag over the area.
The park, located less than a kilometer from the Israeli border, used to feature a statue of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps assassinated Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, pointing at Israel and a replica of Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock.
Footage shared on social media on Tuesday showed the heavily damaged park following Israeli operations in the area, and troops placing an Israeli flag where an Iranian one once flew.
Working in tandem with the ground troops, the Israeli Air Force struck 185 Hezbollah sites across Lebanon over the last day, including sites where cells of operatives were gathered, observation posts, rocket launchers and weapons depots.
Meanwhile in Israel, the IDF said on Wednesday afternoon that some 40 rockets were launched from Lebanon at the Haifa area in an attack claimed by Hezbollah.
Some of the rockets were intercepted while several impacts were identified in the area, and medics said five people were wounded by shrapnel.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it was taking a 16-year-old boy in moderate condition, and four others in their 40s and 50s in light condition, to Rambam Hospital.
In addition, a 36-year-old cyclist was lightly hurt in a crash with a car as sirens sounded in the area, MDA added. He was also being taken to Rambam Hospital.
An impact in Kiryat Bialik caused power outages in the city.
Earlier in the day, air defenses intercepted two missiles launched from Lebanon at the Carmel region in the north of the country.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the missile fire, which triggered sirens in Israel’s northern coastal plain, including in Caesarea and Zichron Yaakov and nearby towns south of Haifa.
There were no reports of injuries or damage as a result of that attack.
On the other side of the border, reports in Lebanese media overnight indicated that Israeli strikes were carried out in the southern suburb of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh, throughout the night, as well as in the city of Sidon and in the Baalbek region.
On Wednesday morning, the IDF said that Hezbollah operatives who killed a paratrooper officer last week in southern Lebanon were eliminated in an airstrike.
The IDF released footage of the incident, without specifying when the airstrike took place.
Cpt. Ben Zion Falach, 21, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion, was killed during an exchange of fire with Hezbollah gunmen in a village in southern Lebanon on October 2.
The military said that the Hezbollah operatives were spotted by the paratroopers using a small drone, and they directed the Israeli Air Force to carry out a drone strike against them. Another operative was killed in an exchange of fire in a building, the IDF added.
Separately, the IDF said the paratroopers located hundreds of weapons, including in a 7-meter-deep bunker in a village where they are operating.
Hezbollah began launching missiles at Israel on October 8 last year, in support of its ally Hamas following the attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
Israel stepped up its actions against Hezbollah in recent weeks after deciding to make the safe return of northern residents to their homes an official war aim.
Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, out of fear Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack.
Speaking to troops in southern Lebanon, the chief of the IDF Northern Command, Maj, Gen. Ori Gordin, vowed that the ground operation against Hezbollah would make it safe for Israel’s displaced residents to return home, the IDF said on Wednesday.
“The way back home for the residents of the north passes through… the removal of this direct and concrete threat to the communities of the north. As I’ve said, we are determined to bring them back and you are doing it with your tank treads and your legs,” Gordin told soldiers of the 188th Armored Brigade.
The attacks on northern Israel over the last year have resulted in the deaths of 26 civilians in Israel. In addition, 33 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September.
Two soldiers in northern Israel have been killed in a drone attack from Iraq, and there have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 516 members — including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah — who have been killed by Israel during the war, mostly in Lebanon but also some in Syria. Another 94 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
These numbers have not been consistently updated since Israel began its new offensive against Hezbollah in September, including the ground operation in which the military says at least 440 Hezbollah operatives have been killed.