IDF soldier killed, officer injured in car wreck along Lebanese border
Accident occurs amid heightened tensions with the Hezbollah terror group, which accused Israel of killing one of its members
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
A soldier was killed and an officer was injured in what the Israel Defense Forces said was a car accident near the Lebanese border on Wednesday afternoon.
The incident came amid growing tensions between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah, after the terror group accused the IDF of killing one of its fighters in an airstrike outside Damascus on Monday night.
The military said the car crash occurred in the area of Mount Dov, also known as Shebaa Farms, which Israel, Lebanon, and Syria all claim as their territory.
The soldier was identified by the military as 20-year-old Sahar Elgazar, from the southern Israeli community of Ranen. His funeral was scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday at the military cemetery in the town of Ofakim.
The IDF said the Military Police have launched an investigation into the crash.
The injured officer, a lieutenant, was taken to a nearby hospital in moderate condition, the IDF said.
Following the crash, the military fired a number of smoke shells into the area to create a smokescreen to block the view from the Lebanese side of the border.
The shells sparked a small blaze, which Israeli firefighters extinguished, the IDF said.
On Tuesday evening, Hezbollah accused Israel of killing one of its members in an airstrike outside Damascus the night before, raising the possibility of retaliation against the Jewish state.
The Times of Israel Community.