File Photo: Israeli forces near the Lebanese border. AFP
The Israeli army said an army squad commander has been killed in Lebanon. This is the first combat death Israel has announced inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah sources speak of at least four Israeli soldiers killed in clashes at the border. Israeli sources, however, told Sky News Arabia that at least 14 Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes in southern Lebanon.
Israeli Army Radio said a medical rescue unit was called in to provide treatment to soldiers in the field and that the rescue operation was very complex.
Earlier in the day, Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, told reporters touring sites of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs that Hezbollah had “fought a heroic battle this morning” in the south villages of Odaisseh and Maroun Al-Ras against Israeli soldiers who launched a ground incursion into Lebanon.
The Lebanese army said Israeli forces breached approximately 400 metres into Lebanese territory on Wednesday and then withdrew “after a short period.”
A Lebanese soldier has been injured in an Israeli drone strike on southern Lebanon, the army said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said its combat losses in southern Lebanon increased to eight on Wednesday as it clashed with Hezbollah fighters after crossing the border to target the group's positions.
The Israeli army announced in a statement that seven more soldiers have fallen after announcing the death of its first soldier in Lebanon earlier in the day.
It also warned people in around 50 villages and towns to evacuate north of the Awali River, some 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the border and much farther than the northern edge of a UN-declared zone intended to serve as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon after their 2006 war.
Hundreds of thousands have already fled their homes as the conflict has intensified.
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