5 Israeli Soldiers Killed in Lebanon Ground Operations

Last updated on October 18th, 2024 at 10:18 am

Five Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting in southern Lebanon on Oct. 16, the Israeli military has confirmed.

The Israeli military identified the deceased soldiers as Maj. Ofek Bacher, Cpt. Elad Siman Tov, and Sgts. Elyashiv Eitan Wieder, Yehuda Dror Yaholum, and Yaakov Hillel.

The five Israeli soldiers were members of the Israeli military’s Golani Brigade.

Their deaths come more than two weeks into the ongoing Israeli ground invasion into Lebanon. The Israeli military has confirmed at least nine other soldiers were killed in battle inside Lebanon’s borders between Oct. 2, while eight more Israeli soldiers have either been killed on or near the Israeli-Lebanese border in the days since the Israeli ground invasion began.

Israeli forces previously invaded Lebanon in 1978 and 1982. The second invasion resulted in an Israeli military occupation of Lebanon that lasted 18 years before Israeli forces finally withdrew to their side of the border in 2000.

Hezbollah formed in the 1980s in response to latter Israeli invasion. Hezbollah has sporadically traded blows with Israeli forces across the Israeli-Lebanese border since 2000.

This latest Israeli ground invasion follows more than a year of cross-border fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces. The Lebanese faction launched rocket and drone attacks on Israeli-controlled areas of the disputed Golan Heights on Oct. 8, 2023. Israeli forces responded in kind, and the two sides had exchanged indirect fire and airstrikes for nearly a year before Israeli commanders finally ordered the cross-border ground assault.

As with the previous Israeli invasion, the fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces appears to be playing out as a largely guerilla versus counter-guerilla battle.

While ostensibly fighting Hezbollah, Israeli ground forces have also fired on Lebanese government forces and members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

UNIFIL was established in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s invasion that year. The UN peacekeeping force has expanded its mission since then.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded those UN troops leave southern Lebanon while the Israeli operations their proceed. UNIFIL has insisted it will keeps its troops in place, in accordance with its UN Security Council mandate.

The battle along the Israeli-Lebanese border has carried on in parallel with the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into southern Israel. The attack last year left around 1,200 dead and thousands more wounded, and Hamas took around 250 people back to Gaza as captives. Israeli forces have sought to eradicate Hamas as both a political and military power within Gaza and return those held captive since last year.