Israeli soldier lightly injured by gunfire from Lebanon
Shots fired from passing car across the border; IDF troops fire back, 'register a hit,' army says
An IDF soldier was shot and lightly injured by gunfire coming from Lebanon while he was on duty in northern Israel on Wednesday, the army said.
The shots were fired from a passing car across the border, according to the IDF.
Israeli soldiers returned fire and “registered a hit,” the army said. There were no immediate reports of Lebanese injuries.
The Lebanese military denied that the shooting had taken place, telling the government news outlet NNA that “there is no truth to the claims by some media reports from the Zionist enemy” — meaning Israel — “that shots were fired from a car within Lebanon at an Israeli soldier.”
Following the Lebanese army’s statement, the IDF reiterated its account, saying its soldiers had “identified the vehicle that conducted the shooting” and that “fire was exchanged between the vehicle and IDF forces.”
The peacekeeping United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said it was looking into the reports to determine if shots had indeed been fired across the border and was speaking with both the IDF and the Lebanese military.
A spokesperson for UNIFIL said shots appeared to have been fired from Kafr Kila, just across the border in Lebanon, though he noted that most of the information came from the IDF and had not yet been independently verified.
The Israeli troops had been working on the defenses along the border, when they came under attack near Reches Ramim, southwest of Kiryat Shmona, the IDF said.
The injured soldier was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Local residents were reportedly told to keep away from the area.
Lebanese news outlets reported multiple Israeli aircraft in the skies near the border after the incident.
Israeli soldiers have been working “24/7 — days, nights and weekends to shore up the defenses along the northern border with Lebanon in order to better protect the nearby Israeli communities from possible attacks by Hezbollah, a senior military official told The Times of Israel earlier this year.
The project will continue for the next several years in order to secure the area effectively, though most of the work will be completed within the next two years, the officer said.
Wednesday’s shooting came a day after a Bedouin Israeli teenager, Nimer Bassem Abu Amar, was shot and killed while working on the security fence separating Israel and Egypt.
Dov Lieber contributed to this report