2 Lebanese soldiers killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon

By Stephanie Rady

BEIRUT (AA) - Two Lebanese soldiers were killed and another was injured in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to the military.

A military statement said one soldier was killed and another wounded by Israeli army fire during a joint evacuation mission with the Red Cross in the town of Tayibe.

Another soldier lost his life in an Israeli attack on an army post in Bint Jbeil town, with Lebanese forces responding to the source of fire, the statement said.

The new fatalities brought the Lebanese military death toll to three since the outbreak of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah last year.

Israel has launched massive airstrikes since Sept. 23 on what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon that have killed so far more than 1,100 victims, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The aerial campaign was an escalation in a yearlong conflict between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 41,800 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

At least 1,974 people have since been killed, over 9,384 injured, and 1.2 million others displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala