Netanyahu says Israel ‘in middle of tough war’ as 8 troops killed in southern Lebanon

By Anadolu staff

JERUSALEM (AA) - In his first comments following the death of eight Israeli officers and soldiers in battles in southern Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Tel Aviv is in the “middle of a tough war.”

“I would like to send my heartfelt condolences to the families of our heroes who fell today in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a video post on X.

“We are in the middle of a tough war against Iran’s axis of evil, which seeks to destroy us,” he added.

Netanyahu concluded his remarks by saying: “We will rescue our hostages in the south (Gaza); we will return our residents in the north; we will guarantee Israel’s eternity.”

Earlier, the Israeli army said that eight of its troops, including three officers, were killed and seven others, including one officer, were injured, some seriously, in battles in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Channel 12 reported that the first confrontation erupted in the early hours of Wednesday in the village of Odaisseh, where an Israeli force was ambushed at the entrance of a house.

The report said that Hezbollah fighters fired on the Israeli unit from close range and also engaged them from a close distance using machine guns, anti-tank missiles, and mortars.

The evacuation process lasted a long time due to the topographical conditions and severe weather during the early morning hours, with six soldiers killed and five others from the Egoz Commando Unit sustaining varying injuries.

In a second incident, a unit from the Golani Brigade was hit by mortar fire launched by Hezbollah fighters from both close and distant ranges, resulting in the death of two soldiers.

Meanwhile, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported that the ambush set by Hezbollah in a house in southern Lebanon, where face-to-face confrontations occurred, resulted in the deaths of six Israeli officers and soldiers from the Egoz unit, with 30 others injured.

Israel has launched massive airstrikes since Sept. 23 against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon that have killed more than 1,000 victims and injured over 2,950, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The top leadership of Hezbollah was killed in the Israeli assaults, including leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,700 people, most of them women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, last October.

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

*Writing by Mohammad Sio