IDF says soldier killed, another seriously hurt by ‘friendly-fire’ in southern Lebanon

An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed, and another was seriously wounded, in an incident of so-called friendly fire in southern Lebanon overnight, the military announced on Saturday.

The slain soldier was named as Sgt. First Class Guy Ludar, 21, of the Commando Brigade’s Maglan Unit, from Yuvalim.

The incident occurred around 3 a.m. during an operation in the southern Lebanese village of Shebaa. The Maglan commandos had raided Shebaa to capture a suspect who was allegedly aiding Hezbollah.

According to an initial IDF probe, during the operation, one soldier thought he identified suspects attempting to flee and opened fire. The gunfire killed Ludar and seriously wounded the other soldier.

The mission was completed, and the suspect was taken to Israel for interrogation.

The military said it was further investigating the circumstances of the incident.

Ludar was the eleventh soldier to be killed in southern Lebanon since the Hezbollah terror group started its attacks on Israel on March 2, sparking the latest round of fighting against the Iranian proxy. Two civilians have also been killed by Hezbollah rockets, while an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.

The announcement of Ludar’s death came as Hezbollah continued to launch attacks on northern Israel throughout the day. A projectile fired Saturday morning by the Lebanese terror group struck the city of Kiryat Shmona, without sirens sounding.

Rescue services said the impact damaged a road, with shrapnel hitting nearby homes and cars. No injuries were caused.

In the evening, the IDF said it investigated the attack from Lebanon and found that “due to a localized malfunction, the launch was not detected and therefore no alert was activated in the city.”

The army said the incident was under further investigation.

בכביש, בין בתים וללא אזעקה: תיעוד פגיעת הרקטה בקריית שמונה
(אורלי אלקלעי) pic.twitter.com/ZeQNXrLd5W

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 4, 2026

Additionally, an Israeli Air Force helicopter released a bomb that fell in an open area in northern Israel overnight, the military said.

The IDF said the incident was “due to human error,” and sappers were dispatched to the scene to safely remove the munition. “There are no casualties, and the incident is under investigation,” it said.

IDF bombs Quds Force command centers in Beirut

The military also announced that on Friday, the Israeli Air Force bombed command centers in Beirut belonging to the Quds Force, the extraterritorial arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The IDF said the command centers belonged to the Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps, which “serves as a liaison between Hezbollah and the Iranian terror regime and supports Hezbollah’s force buildup and military entrenchment.”

In addition, the IDF said it struck two command centers in Beirut belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, “which were utilized by the organization’s senior officials for decision-making and coordination with Hezbollah.”

חיל-האוויר השלים אתמול גל תקיפות לעבר תשתיות של ארגוני הטרור ברחבי לבנון, בו הותקפו מפקדות בשימוש גיס לבנון של 'כוח קודס'.

בנוסף, הותקפו שתי מפקדות של ארגון הטרור הג'יהאד האסלאמי הפלסטיני. pic.twitter.com/4WcWhLgibg

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) April 4, 2026

 

The Israeli Navy also struck a Hezbollah surveillance post, the military added.

Later on Saturday, the IDF warned it would bomb the Masnaa Border Crossing between Syria and Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of using it for military purposes.

“Due to Hezbollah’s use of the Masnaa Crossing for military activity and the smuggling of weapons, the IDF intends to strike the border crossing in the near future,” warned army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.

Adraee called on anyone near the crossing to evacuate the area. “Remaining in this area puts you at risk,” he said.

Earlier, the IDF renewed its strikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, after issuing fresh evacuation warnings for several buildings.

The army had already issued a blanket warning calling on everyone in the coastal city to evacuate.

The military struck three specific buildings it had warned people to leave, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA).

An AFP correspondent said a missile hit an 11-story building northeast of Tyre, completely destroying it and reducing it to a pile of rubble that covered a nearby gas station.

A second raid on a five-story building near the city leveled half of it, leaving the other half standing.

The third strike was on the Burj al-Shamali Palestinian refugee camp, southeast of the city.

Tens of thousands of people have left Tyre, but around 20,000 remain, including 15,000 displaced from surrounding villages.

The IDF later issued another evacuation warning, this time for the village of Kfar Hatta, located north of the Zahrani River, ahead of airstrikes against Hezbollah.

As the village is located north of the Zahrani River, it had not been included in the IDF’s blanket evacuation warning for southern Lebanon.

Saturday’s warnings followed strikes that wounded at least 11 people, including three civil defense members, and damaged a major hospital, the health ministry in Beirut said.

The director of the Lebanese Italian Hospital told the NNA that it would “remain open to provide the necessary medical care” despite the damage.

Overnight strikes destroyed two buildings nearby, an AFP correspondent saw, shattering windows and also causing suspended ceilings to collapse in the hospital, management said.

According to Lebanon’s health ministry, a strike on al-Hawsh near Tyre wounded 18 people, and a strike on Habbush in the Nabatiyeh district killed at least two children and wounded 22 people.

The ministry also said that over 24 hours from Friday to Saturday, Israeli strikes killed a total of 54 people and wounded 156. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

IDF says over 140 Hezbollah sites hit this weekend

According to the military, more than 140 total Hezbollah sites in Lebanon were struck by the Israeli Air Force and by ground troops over the weekend.

The IDF said the targets included a Hezbollah training camp, weapon depots, rocket launching sites and command centers of the elite Radwan Force.

Additionally, amid ground operations in southern Lebanon, troops killed Hezbollah operatives in close-quarters combat and by directing strikes.

One strike carried out by the 215th Artillery Regiment hit a Hezbollah command center used by the terror group to launch drones at troops and Israel, the army said.

And in southern Lebanon, ground troops of the IDF’s Givati Brigade captured weapons, including the RPGs, anti-tank missiles, and firearms, the military said. The IDF said the brigade also spotted a cell of Hezbollah operatives and called in a drone strike against them.

On March 2, three days after the US and Israel attacked Iran, Hezbollah started firing rockets and drones at Israel, in support of the Islamic Republic.

The attacks came after the previous round of fighting – which began when Hezbollah attacked Israel on October 8, 2023 – had mostly ended with a November 2024 ceasefire deal.

Since March 2, eleven IDF soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon, two civilians were killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.

Israeli officials have said the IDF is establishing a demilitarized “security zone” in southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, until the threat of Hezbollah is removed.