IDF soldier killed as vehicle crashes in south Lebanon; 10 hurt in clash with Hezbollah

An Israel Defense Forces reservist was killed and three were injured when a Humvee overturned in southern Lebanon on Sunday night, and ten paratroopers were wounded in a clash with Hezbollah gunmen, the military announced.

And on Tuesday, the IDF said a battalion commander was seriously hurt in southern Lebanon.

The deceased soldier in Sunday’s incident was named on Monday morning as Sgt. Maj (res.) Ayal Uriel Bianco, 30, a firetruck driver in the 188th Armored Brigade, from Katzrin.

Three other reservists were injured in the same incident, one of them moderately and the other two lightly, and were evacuated for medical care, the IDF said.

The circumstances of the apparent accident are under investigation by the military.

“Eyal was a regular soldier before the reserves for several years; when he was called to service, he always came,” Katzrin Mayor Yehuda Dua wrote on Facebook. “That’s who he was, a man of the country, a person who gave his all to others; when it came to the country, he was the first to report to duty.”

Separately, ten soldiers were wounded, three of them seriously, during a clash with three Hezbollah gunmen in the southern Lebanon town of Bint Jebil overnight, the military said Monday.

The soldiers of the Pararoopers Brigade’s 101st Battalion were taken to a hospital and their families were notified, the army said. Three of the paratroopers were listed in serious condition, one was in moderate condition, and six were lightly hurt, according to the IDF.

The military said that the paratroopers returned fire, and, along with tank shelling and airstrikes, killed two of the Hezbollah gunmen.

The third Hezbollah operative attempted to flee from the area later in the morning, and a short while after he was identified, he was targeted and killed in a strike, the IDF added.

The IDF says it has killed three Hezbollah operatives who wounded 10 paratroopers during a gun battle in southern Lebanon's Bint Jbeil overnight.

During the night, soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade's 101st Battalion exchanged fire with a cell of three Hezbollah gunmen. The… pic.twitter.com/cxUbPGjXvn

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 14, 2026

In another incident, three Hezbollah operatives, including a member of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, surrendered to IDF troops in Bint Jbeil on Sunday, the military said.

The IDF said that soldiers of the Givati Brigade’s Reconnaissance Unit had exchanged fire “from a close range” with a Hezbollah cell in Bint Jbeil, hitting the terror operatives.

“At the end of the battle, three terrorists threw down their weapons and surrendered to the troops,” the IDF said, adding that they were taken to Israel to be interrogated by the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, which specializes in human intelligence.

Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold, has been the focus of IDF operations in southern Lebanon in recent days.

On Tuesday night, the military announced that the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion was severely wounded during “operational activity” in southern Lebanon earlier in the day.

The IDF said the circumstances under which the officer, a lieutenant colonel, was seriously hurt are under investigation. He was airlifted to a hospital by helicopter and his family was notified, the army adds.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah carried on its sporadic attacks on northern Israel on Tuesday, with sirens warning of rocket fire and drones in several border communities. There were no reports of injuries.

Meanwhile, the IDF said it carried out a wave of airstrikes against numerous Hezbollah sites in the southern Lebanon town of Aadshit on Sunday night.

The strikes were carried out after the IDF said it had identified “increased activity by the Hezbollah terror organization identified in the village.”

Since hostilities escalated on March 2, Hezbollah fired some 130 rockets from Aadshit at troops in southern Lebanon and at Israel, especially Kiryat Shmona, the military said.

Among the sites hit in the town were weapon depots, rocket launchers, and Hezbollah headquarters, the army said. The IDF added the strikes also killed several Hezbollah operatives who had planned attacks on Israel.

Additionally, the Israeli Air Force struck some 150 Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon over the previous day, the military said Sunday night.

The IDF said the targets included rocket launchers, drones, buildings used by the terror group, anti-tank launch sites, and headquarters.

The military said it also struck Hezbollah cells that planned attacks on troops.

חיל האוויר תקף ביממה האחרונה כ-150 מטרות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה

חיל האוויר ממשיך לתקוף תשתיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה ולסייע לפעילות הכוחות הקרקעיים הפועלים בדרום לבנון.

ביממה האחרונה הותקפו כ-150 מטרות במספר מרחבים בדרום לבנון.

הותקפו משגרי רקטות וכלי טיס בלתי מאוישים.… pic.twitter.com/EXlMd63rkI

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— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 13, 2026

Notably, the IDF has not conducted any strikes against Hezbollah in Beirut since Wednesday night.

The apparent unstated policy change came amid US pressure on Israel to limit attacks on the terror group as Washington attempts to advance negotiations with Tehran, as well as ahead of expected negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on Tuesday in Washington.

However, the IDF was still carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon and had almost completed the capture of the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil.

Bint Jbeil is considered a symbol of Hezbollah power, and the IDF has been encircling the town in recent weeks as it seeks to extend its control of southern Lebanon after the Iran-backed group broke the ceasefire that had been in place since November 2024, to support Tehran.

During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the IDF battled the terror group in the town but failed to capture it fully. Earlier, in May 2000, after the IDF withdrew from southern Lebanon following an 18-year occupation, then-Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah delivered a victory speech in Bint Jbeil where he infamously described Israel as “weaker than a spider web.”

The operation to capture Bint Jbeil comes with the first in-person meeting in the expected negotiations between Israel and Lebanon set to take place on Tuesday in Washington.

The talks, which will be hosted at the US State Department, come amid reports of alarm from the White House over the scale of Israel’s massive wave of strikes in Lebanon following the ceasefire announcement between the US and Iran on Wednesday.

Iran is demanding that Lebanon be part of the ceasefire, but Israel insists it is not.

Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed over 2,000 people since hostilities escalated on March 2, in a toll that does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. According to IDF tallies released Friday, more than 1,400 Hezbollah operatives have been killed over the same period.

Thirteen IDF soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon amid fighting against Hezbollah, two civilians were killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.

More than 3,500 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon have also been struck, including hundreds of command centers, weapons depots, and rocket and missile launchers, according to the IDF.

Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.