Ceasefire in Name Only: Six IDF Soldiers Dead After Bloodiest Weekend of Lebanon Fighting
Cpl. Yoav Klein and Staff Sgt. Nir Ben Ari killed in southern Lebanon, as six IDF soldiers fall in 48 hours and a fragile ceasefire shows signs of collapse.
The Israeli military named two more soldiers killed in combat against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Saturday night, bringing to at least six the number of Israeli troops killed in a single bloody 48-hour stretch that has exposed the fragility of a ceasefire framework brokered just days earlier.
The soldiers named Saturday are Cpl. Yoav Klein, 21, of Herzliya, a tank soldier with the 52nd Battalion of the 401st "Iron Tracks" Armored Brigade, and Staff Sgt. Nir Ben Ari, 21, of Karem Maharal, a fighter with the elite Maglan unit of the Commando Brigade.
Ben Ari was killed at 1:30 a.m. when Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets and an explosive drone that struck near a position held by Commando Brigade fighters close to Kfar Tebnit, not far from the Ali Taher ridge. Two additional soldiers were seriously wounded in the attack, a combat officer sustained moderate injuries, and ten others were lightly wounded.
Their deaths follow the killing Friday of four soldiers, including a battalion commander, in a Hezbollah strike on a tank also in the Kfar Tebnit area. That crew included Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, 32, of Beit HaShita, commander of the 52nd Battalion, and Naveh Havshush of the community of Adam in the Binyamin Region. The names of the other two soldiers killed in that incident have not yet been cleared for publication.
Ben Simhon had assumed command of the battalion only on April 20, stepping in after his predecessor was seriously wounded in combat. He led his soldiers for fewer than two months before he was killed alongside his crew.
Havshush's father, Haim, wrote on Facebook after receiving the news: "IDF officers came to us last night bearing the worst news of all. Naveh, my sweet and beloved son, was killed last night in Lebanon. For this, our Naveh was killed — so that we can continue living in this land, with security, joy, and calm."
The deaths came despite a ceasefire that a senior American official announced had taken effect Friday at 4 p.m. Israeli officials made clear, however, that they did not consider the arrangement to include a withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and that IDF forces would retain full freedom of action in the security zone. Senior military commanders were reported to have objected to the restraint directive issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, even as they confirmed troops would remain in place.
Netanyahu instructed the military to strike Hezbollah "with full force" after Friday's tank attack, writing that Israel "will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or our territory." He said IDF troops would remain in the security zone "for as long as required to protect the settlements in the north."
The scale of ongoing fire makes clear how tenuous the arrangement remains. Israel's ambassador to the United States said Hezbollah launched 147 rockets, 20 drones, and 9 anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops in a single 24-hour period. Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed 111 of its operatives were killed in Israeli strikes over the weekend.