Israeli attack kills 3 more Lebanese soldiers as death toll passes 40

The number of Lebanese troops killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023 is reported to have reached 41 after latest attack kills three soldiers in southern Lebanon.

Three Lebanese soldiers have been killed in an Israeli air strike on an army base in southern Lebanon’s town of Sarafand, while at least 17 civilians living nearby the facility were injured, the country’s military and Ministry of Public Health said.

“The Israeli enemy targeted an army centre in the town of Sarafand in the south, which led to the martyrdom of three soldiers,” the Lebanese military said in a post on social media late on Tuesday.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that 17 people were injured in the strike after reporting earlier that Israeli attacks across the country over the previous 24 hours had killed 28 people and wounded 107 – bringing the death toll in Lebanon since fighting erupted between Hezbollah and Israel in October 2023 to 3,544 dead and more than 15,000 injured.

The Lebanese army’s spokesperson, Fadi Eid, told The Associated Press (AP) news agency before the attack in Sarafand that 38 soldiers had been killed in Israeli strikes since October last year. The three latest casualties bring the overall death toll in the Lebanese army to 41, the AP reported.

استهدف العدو الإسرائيلي مركزًا للجيش في بلدة الصرفند- الجنوب، ما أدى إلى استشهاد ٣ عسكريين.#الجيش_اللبناني #LebaneseArmy pic.twitter.com/QKy5BcCTYe

— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) November 19, 2024

Translation: The Israeli enemy targeted an army centre in the town of Sarafand in the south, which led to the martyrdom of three soldiers.

On Sunday, Israeli forces bombed a Lebanese military post in Mari, in the southeastern Hasbaiyya province, killing two soldiers and critically injuring three others.

The Israeli military has not yet commented on its latest killing of Lebanese soldiers who have for months provided security for Lebanese civilians and engaged in search and rescue efforts amid the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Lebanon’s government said on Monday that it plans to file a formal complaint with the United Nations Security Council over “repeated attacks” by Israel on its army, and accused Israeli forces of repeated violations of international law.

Earlier on Tuesday, Italy’s Ministry of Defence reported that eight rockets hit the headquarters of the Italian contingent of the UN peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, in Chama, in southern Lebanon, and Ghanaian peacekeepers were injured in a rocket explosion in nearby Ramyah.

“Four Ghanaian peacekeepers on duty sustained injuries as a rocket – fired most likely by non-state actors within Lebanon – hit their base” in the village of Ramyah, UNIFIL said in a statement.

Though no injuries were reported, five Italian soldiers are being monitored in the Chama base’s medical facility after the rocket attack, Italy’s Defence Ministry said in its statement. Investigations are also under way to determine where the rockets originated and to identify those responsible for the attack, which hit some outdoor areas and the base’s supply warehouse.

Also on Tuesday, Argentina informed UNIFIL that it would be pulling out of the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

“Argentina has asked its officers to go back [to Argentina],” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in response to a question about a newspaper report. He declined to comment on the reason for the Argentinian departure, referring the question to Argentina’s government.

Argentina is one of 48 countries contributing peacekeepers to UNIFIL, with a total of three staff currently in Lebanon, according to a UN website.

UNIFIL has previously referred to “unacceptable pressures being exerted on the mission through various channels”, amid demands by the Israeli military for UN personnel to leave their bases and withdraw from southern Lebanon.

More than 20 peacekeepers have been injured in the past two months and several UNIFIL bases have been damaged by Israeli air attacks, which Israel has claimed were unintentional. Israel accuses UNIFIL peacekeeping bases of shielding Hezbollah fighters.

UNIFIL has rejected Israel’s demands to evacuate from southern Lebanon for its own safety.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies