Israeli soldier killed, 4 wounded in southern Lebanon by Hezbollah anti-tank missile

An Israeli soldier was killed and four others were wounded in a Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack in southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces announced Thursday evening, the military’s second fatality of the day.

The slain soldier was named as Sgt. Aviaad Elchanan Volansky, 21, of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion, from Jerusalem. He is the fourth soldier to be killed in the conflict with Hezbollah that began on March 2, when the Lebanese terror group began firing rockets and drones at Israel amid the US-Israeli war with its sponsor, Iran.

Earlier in the day, the military said an IDF soldier was killed overnight during a firefight with Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon.

Throughout Thursday, Hezbollah fire continued to hit Israel, with the terror group launching more than 100 rockets and killing a man and seriously wounding another in the northern city of Nahariya.

Sirens sounded in the port city of Haifa later Thursday night.

Israel has responded to the attacks with heavy airstrikes on Hezbollah targets and by deepening its presence on the ground in Lebanon. Lebanese state media said Israeli strikes killed at least five people on Thursday, two of them in a raid on a building in the Nabatiyeh area in the south.

IDF says tank intercepted one missile before second hit it

Volansky, the second soldier killed by Hezbollah on Thursday, is the son of Defense Establishment Comptroller Brig. Gen. (res.) Yair Volansky, who previously commanded the 401st Armored Brigade.

According to an initial IDF probe, Hezbollah operatives launched two anti-tank missiles from an area north of the Litani River in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon, targeting an Israeli Merkava tank.

The first missile was intercepted by the Merkava’s TROPHY active protection system, while the second struck the tank, killing Volansky and wounding other crewmembers, according to the probe.

The IDF said two officers and two soldiers of the 77th Battalion were lightly wounded in the incident.

Lebanon says it will appeal to UN over war

Lebanon meanwhile said it would complain to the United Nations Security Council over the Israeli attacks. That statement came as the government is contending with internal divisions in its government after its decision this week to declare the Iranian ambassador persona non grata.

In response, two ministers from Hezbollah and two from its ally Amal boycotted Thursday’s cabinet session.

In a statement afterwards, the cabinet said Israel was “threatening Lebanon’s sovereignty,” and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he had asked the foreign minister to “immediately file a complaint with the Security Council in this regard.”

Dozens of protesters, meanwhile, gathered near Iran’s embassy on the outskirts of south Beirut, where Israel has repeatedly bombed in recent weeks, some waving Iranian or Hezbollah flags amid chants of “Death to America, death to Israel.”

Visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called for the immediate cessation of what he called Israel’s “aggression” on Lebanon.

Hezbollah denies presence in Kuwait

Also Thursday, Hezbollah denied that it had any presence in Kuwait, a day after the Gulf country announced more arrests of people allegedly linked to the terror group.

“For the third time, Hezbollah reiterates its complete denial of the accusations” made by Kuwait’s interior ministry, the group said in a statement.

“Hezbollah has no presence in the state of Kuwait or any other country,” the statement adds, calling the accusations “removed from reality and devoid of truth.”