BEIRUT, March 17 — Three Lebanese soldiers were killed, and two were wounded in an Israeli airstrike in the city of Nabatieh, in southern Lebanon, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, the Lebanese Army said the soldiers were struck while travelling by car and motorcycle and were taken to the hospital.
The Israeli military said it was aware of reports that Lebanese soldiers were wounded in a strike in southern Lebanon and that the incident was under review.
It claimed that it operated against Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese Armed Forces.
The strike comes amid intensifying Israeli attacks across Lebanon, which have killed more than 880 people and displaced more than one million, according to the Lebanese authorities.
The Lebanese Army has also reported casualties in recent days, including an incident earlier this month in which three soldiers were among those killed in Israeli strikes.
Israel's military, which has occupied five positions in southern Lebanon since a November 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, sent additional forces into the country after the Shi'ite Muslim group fired a salvo of rockets on March 2, dragging Lebanon into the expanding US-Israeli war with Iran.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz has warned Lebanon that it could face territorial losses unless Hezbollah is disarmed.
