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Hezbollah Israel attack: IDF opens fire on southern Lebanon after convoy attack wounds multiple soldiers Hezbollah Israel convoy attack: Israeli army 'kills Spanish soldier' as UN peacekeepers get caught in retaliatory shelling
(about 4 hours later)
Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for an attack on an Israeli army convoy that is reported to have injured a number of IDF troops. The Israeli army has reportedly killed a Spanish soldier working with UN peacekeepers on the border with Lebanon, as an exchange of fire took place between the Hezbollah militant group and Benjamin Netanyahu's armed forces.
The Israeli army has opened fire on southern Lebanon in response, sending at least 35 artillery shells in the direction of the Shebaa Farms region. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said two of its soldiers were killed in an earlier anti-tank missile strike on a military convoy, which was accompanied by shelling in the disputed border region of Shebaa Farms.
Lebanese officials said Hezbollah had claimed it carried out the attack using anti-tank weapons, in what was described as a “big” and “sophisticated operation”. The UN peacekeeper died in the aftermath, as Israel responded with at least 50 artillery shells and a series of air strikes, according to Spanish officials and a spokesperson for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil).
The attack took place near Mount Dov and Shebaa, a stretch of land that lies in disputed territory where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet. Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the initial attack on the convoy, which Lebanese officials described as a “big” and “sophisticated operation”.
The exchange sent tensions soaring around the volatile boundary. The military did not immediately report any casualties, and said residents of the area have been ordered to remain in their homes. The group said it had destroyed a number of Israeli vehicles and caused casualties among “enemy ranks”. It claimed the attacks were carried out by the “heroic martyrs of Quneitra” – implying it was in retaliation for an Israeli air strike on the Golan Heights on 18 January that killed six Hezbollah fighters.
Hezbollah said in a statement that it had destroyed a number of Israeli vehicles and caused casualties among "enemy ranks". The Israeli military confirmed the deaths of two soldiers. Hospital officials said a further seven had been wounded, although none of their injuries were reported to be life-threatening.
A statement said the attack was carried out by a group calling itself the "heroic martyrs of Quneitra" - suggesting it was retaliation for an Israeli air strike on the Golan Heights on 18 January that killed six Hezbollah fighters. Israel has been bracing for a response to the 18 January strike. While declining to comment on the incident itself, it has been working to bolster air defences and surveillance operations along the northern frontier.
More follows A Unifil spokesperson urged both sides to display “maximum restraint to prevent an escalation”.